Commission Decision of 02/02/2006 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.4080 - G+J / SANOMA / JV) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic) |COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES | Brussels , 02.02.2006 SG-Greffe(2006) D/200481 PUBLIC VERSION MERGER PROCEDURE ARTICLE 6(1)(b) DECISION SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURE To the notifying parties | | | | Dear Sirs, Subject: Case No. COMP/M.4080 – G+J/Sanoma/JV Notification of 22.12.2005 pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 139/2004 [1] Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union No.
C 5 of 10.01.2006 on page 5 1. On 22.12.2005, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 by which the undertakings G+J International Publishing Holding GmbH (“G+J“, Austria) belonging to the Bertelsmann Group and Sanoma Magazines International B.V. (“SMI“, Netherlands) belonging to the Sanoma WSOY group acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation joint control of the undertakings Burda d.o.o. (“Burda Slovenia“, Slovenia), Burda National d.o.o. (“Burda Croatia“, Croatia), Izdavacka Kuca Burda d.o.o.
(“Burda SMG“, Serbia-Montenegro), Adria Magazin d.o.o. (“AMC“, Croatia), Sanoma Magazines Zagreb d.o.o. (“Sanoma Zagreb“, Croatia) and Sanoma Magazines SMG d.o.o. (“Sanoma SMG“, Serbia-Montenegro), by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture (“JV“, Austria). 2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are: - for G+J: creation, production and publication of magazines; - for SMI: creation, production and publication of magazines; - for JV: publication of magazines in the Eastern Adriatic region. 3. After examination of the notification, the Commission has concluded that the notified operation falls within the scope of Council Regulation (EC) No.
139/2004 and of paragraph 5(a)(ii) and 5(b) of the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No. 139/2004 [2] . 4. For the reasons set out in the Notice on a simplified procedure, the Commission has decided not to oppose the notified operation and to declare it compatible with the common market and with the EEA Agreement. This decision is adopted in application of Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 139/2004. For the Commission (signed) Neelie KROES Member of the Commission [1] OJ L 24, 29.1.2004 p. 1 [2] OJ C 56, 05.3.2005 p.32