11.7.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 219/10

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case M.7272 — Fortum Corporation / OAO Gazprom / AS Eesti Gaas / AS Võrguteenus Valdus)

(Text with EEA relevance)

2014/C 219/12

1.

On 2 July 2014, 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 Fortum Corporation (‘Fortum’, of Finland) and OAO Gazprom (‘Gazprom’, of Russia) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the undertakings AS Eesti Gaas (‘EG’, of Estonia) and AS Vörguteenus Valdus (‘Valdus’, of Estonia) by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—

Fortum is a Finnish-based energy group, primarily active in the Nordic countries and other areas of the Baltic, whose core business covers the generation, distribution and the sale of electricity and heat, the operation and maintenance of power plants, as well as energy-related services;

—

Gazprom is a Russian-based energy group active in the exploration, production, transportation, refining and marketing of natural gas and petrochemical products;

—

EG is a public limited company established in Estonia that is engaged in the import and sale of natural gas and, to a minor extent, in the sale of electricity;

—

Valdus is a public limited company established in Estonia that fulfils the role of gas transmission system operator (‘TSO’) in Estonia.

3.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the 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 Case M.7272 — Fortum Corporation / OAO Gazprom / AS Eesti Gaas / AS Võrguteenus Valdus, 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 ‘Merger Regulation’).