Prior notification of a concentration

(Case M.9187 — Autolaunch/Beijing Electric Vehicle Co/JVs)

Candidate case for simplified procedure

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2018/C 441/09)

On 23 November 2018, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).

This notification concerns the following undertakings:

—	Autolaunch Ltd (‘Autolaunch’) (Ireland), controlled by Magna International Inc. (‘Magna’)

—	Beijing Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd (‘BJEV’) (China) belonging to the Beijing Automotive Group Co., Ltd (‘BAIC Group’)

—	Magna Blue Sky NEV Technology (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd (‘Tech-JV’)

—	Blue Sky NEV Manufacturing Co., Ltd (‘CM-JV’)

Autolaunch and BJEV acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Tech-JV and CM-JV.

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—	Autolaunch is active in the production of tooling and related services. It is a 100 % owned subsidiary of Cosma Tooling Ireland Unlimited which is directly held by Magna, a global automotive supplier.

—	BJEV is mainly active in the fields of vehicle system integration and matching, production and development of vehicle control systems, electric drive systems and pure electric passenger systems. BJEV is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BAIC Group.

—	Tech-JV will be active in providing engineering services for blade electric passenger vehicles and CM-JV will be active in manufacturing and supplying blade electric passenger vehicles in China.

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.

Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under the Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.

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. The following reference should always be specified:

M.9187 — Autolaunch/Beijing Electric Vehicle Co/JVs

Observations can be sent to the Commission by email, by fax, or by post. Please use the contact details below:

Email: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu

Fax +32 229-64301

Postal 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’).

(2) OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.