12.4.2016   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 128/28

1.

On 5 April 2016, 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 Griffin Topco III SARL (‘Griffin’, Luxembourg), ultimately controlled by Oaktree Capital Group LLC (‘Oaktree’, United States), LVS II Lux XX SARL (‘LVS II Lux XX’, Luxembourg), a wholly-owned subsidiary of an investment fund managed by Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (‘PIMCO’, United States) and Redefine Properties Limited (‘Redefine’, South Africa), acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and Article 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Echo Prime Properties B.V. (‘Echo Prime JV’, Poland) by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—   For Griffin: investment activities, including in real estate assets and services. Griffin belongs to Oaktree, an investment company.

—   For LVS II Lux XX: investment activities, including in real estate assets and services. LVS II Lux XX is fully owned by PIMCO, an investment company.

—   For Redefine: investment in real estate assets and services, mainly in South Africa and Australia.

—   For Echo Prime JV: real estate assets and services transferred from Echo Investment. Echo Investment is a joint venture indirectly jointly controlled by Oaktree and PIMCO.

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. Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under 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 this Notice.

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 email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference M.7989 — Griffin/LVS II Lux XX/Redefine/Echo Prime JV, to the following address: