12.4.2011

Official Journal of the European Union

C 114/13

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.6063 — Itochu/Speedy)

(Text with EEA relevance)

2011/C 114/08

On 1 April 2011, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertaking Itochu Corporation (‘Itochu’, Japan) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of the whole of the undertaking Speedy 1 Limited (‘Speedy’, United Kingdom) by way of purchase of shares.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—	Itochu is a global network of subsidiaries and associated companies, which together, are engaged in a broad range of industries, inter alia, automotive repair and replacement services and wholesale supply of replacement tyres for vehicles in a number of European countries,

—	Speedy is the holding company of Kwik-Fit Group Limited, which is mainly active in automotive repair and replacement services in the UK, the Netherlands and France.

3.	On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope the EC Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by e-mail to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number COMP/M.6063 — Itochu/Speedy, to the following address:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

Merger Registry

J-70

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

(1) OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘EC Merger Regulation’).