Commission Decision of 22/10/2012 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.6733 - AGEAS / GROUPAMA INSURANCE COMPANY) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic) |EUROPEAN COMMISSION | Brussels, 22.10.2012 PUBLIC VERSION C (2012)7575 SIMPLIFIED MERGER PROCEDURE | | To the notifying party: Dear Madam(s) and/or Sir(s), Subject: Case No COMP/M.6733- AGEAS / GROUPAMA INSURANCE COMPANY Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 [1] 1. On 24.09.2012 the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Ageas (UK) Limited ("Ageas UK", United Kingdom), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ageas SA/NV ("Ageas", Belgium) acquires, within the meaning of Article 3 (1) (b) of the Merger Regulation, sole control of the whole of Groupama Insurance Company Limited ("Groupama UK", United Kingdom) by way of purchase of shares.
2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are: -for Ageas: provider of insurance services to personal, business and institutional customers and delivers packages of financial products and services through its own channel, and via intermediaries and other partners; -for Ageas UK: non-life insurance; -for Groupama UK: non-life insurer with a diversified book of business that provides products predominantly in the UK and, to a lesser extent, in Ireland. [2] 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(c) 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 297, 03.10.2012, p 4. [3] OJ C 56, 5.3.2005, p. 32.