5.3.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 64/14

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.6789 — Bertelsmann/Pearson/Penguin Random House)

(Text with EEA relevance)

2013/C 64/12

1.

On 26 February 2013, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertakings Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA (‘Bertelsmann’) and Pearson Plc (‘Pearson’) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the newly created joint venture Penguin Random House by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—

for Bertelsmann: television and television production (RTL Group), trade publishing (Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), music rights management (BMG) and services (Arvato) in more than 50 countries,

—

for Pearson: textbook and electronic education programs (Pearson Education), trade books (The Penguin Group) and financial newspapers (The FT Group) in over 70 countries,

—

for Penguin Random House: combination of the global trade book publishing businesses of Bertelsmann and Pearson except Bertelsmann's German language publishing business.

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.

4.

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.6789 — Bertelsmann/Pearson/Penguin Random House, 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’).