29.5.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 150/24

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.6935 — Argos/Sopetral)

(Text with EEA relevance)

2013/C 150/06

1.

On 23 May 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 undertaking Société par Actions Simplifiée Argos France Holding SAS (France) controlled by the Argos Group Holding BV (‘Argos’, the Netherlands), acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of the whole of the undertaking Société par Actions Simplifiée Sopetral SAS (‘Sopetral’, France), by way of purchase of shares. Sopetral in turn holds 100 % of the share capital in the undertaking Société par Actions Simplifiée Établissements Joseph Wallach SAS (‘Wallach’, France).

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—

for Argos: the bunkering of marine fuels, the storage of petroleum products, the non-retail sales of petroleum products, the retail sales of petroleum products and the international trading of bulk petroleum products and derivatives. Argos is primarily active in the Benelux and Germany and has substantial activities in Switzerland, France and the UK,

—

for Sopetral: a mere holding entity that owns all the shares in Wallach,

—

for Wallach: the non-retail sale of certain petroleum products for land use, primarily heating oil and diesel (including off-road diesel) as well as small quantities of gasoline in the Eastern part of France (North and South).

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.6935 — Argos/Sopetral, to the following address:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

Merger Registry

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

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