Commission Decision of 01/06/2011 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.6188 - VITOL / HELIOS / SHELL/ PLATEAU HOLDING / BV3) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic) |EUROPEAN COMMISSION | Brussels , 1.6.2011 C(2011) 4119 final PUBLIC VERSION SIMPLIFIED MERGER PROCEDURE To the notifying parties Dear Madam(s) and/or Sir(s), Subject: Case No COMP/M.6188 – VITOL / HELIOS / SHELL/ PLATEAU HOLDING/BV3 Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 [1] (1) On 04.05.2011, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Vitol Holding B.V.
("Vitol", the Netherlands), Helios Investments Partners LLP ("Helios", England and Wales) and Royal Dutch Shell plc ("Shell", England and Wales) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint-control over Plateau Holding B.V. ("Plateau", the Netherlands) and over BV3 ("BV3", the Netherlands) [2] . (2) The business activities of the undertakings concerned are: - for Vitol: independent trader of various commodities (crude oil, oil products, LNG, natural gas, coal, power and carbon emissions) and financial instruments relating in particular to the oil and gas sector. - for Helios:
African-focused private investments firm active in equity investment. - for Shell: worldwide exploration, production and sale of oil and natural gas, the production and sale of oil products and chemicals, power generation and the production of energy from renewable resources. - for Plateau: investment holding which holds, following the transaction, Shell's current downstream gas, oil and petroleum products distribution business in 14 African countries. - for BV3: a joint-venture set up in the future which holds, following the transaction, Shell's current lubricants production business and wholesale lubricants distribution in seven African countries.
(3) After examination of the notification, the European Commission has concluded that the notified operation falls within the scope of the Merger Regulation and of paragraph 5(a), 5 (c)i and 5 (c)ii of the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 [3] . (4) For the reasons set out in the Notice on a simplified procedure, the European Commission has decided not to oppose the notified operation and to declare it compatible with the internal market and with the EEA Agreement. This decision is adopted in application of Article 6(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation.
For the Commission (signed) Alexander ITALIANER Director General [1]OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 ("the Merger Regulation"). With effect from 1 December 2009, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ("TFEU") has introduced certain changes, such as the replacement of "Community" by "Union" and "common market" by "internal market". The terminology of the TFEU will be used throughout this decision. [2] Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union No C 142, 13.05.2011, p. 42. [3] OJ C 56, 5.3.2005, p. 32.