Disclaimer :

The Competition DG makes the information provided by the notifying parties in section 1.2 of Form CO available to the public in order to increase transparency. This information has been prepared by the notifying parties under their sole responsibility, and its content in no way prejudges the view the Commission may take of the planned operation. Nor can the Commission be held responsible for any incorrect or misleading information contained therein.

COMP/M.4889 - BARCLAYS INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENTS / GEMEAZ/ SCAPA

SECTION 1.2

Description of the concentration

On 28 August 2007, the Commission received a notification of a concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (ìECMRî) by which Barclays Industrial Investments Limited (ìBIILî), will acquire sole control in the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) ECMR over Gemeaz Cusin Ristorazione S.r.l. (ìGCRî) and Scapa Italia S.r.l. (ìScapaî).

The business activities of the undertakings concerned:

- GCR and Scapa operate in the Italian contract catering industry. GCR and the vertically-integrated food purchasing company Scapa Italia, respectively serve meals and distribute food in schools, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, workplaces and also provide maritime and on-board airline catering services through GCRís subsidiary Tirrenia Eurocatering S.p.A. The corporate capital of the Targets are currently owned by Accor S.A. - the entire corporate capital of GCR and 97% of Scapa - and by Mr. Cusin, for the remaining 3% Scapaís corporate capital. - BIIL is an investment limited company which forms part of Barclays Private Equity (http://www.barclays-private-equity.com/) and is ultimately controlled by Barclays ("Barclays Bank" and, together with affiliates, "Barclays"). Barclays is a global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services.

According to the notifying party, the concentration does not give rise to competition concerns since Barclays neither controls nor has investments in any company which may be considered to be active in the same or any upstream or downstream market to the markets where the acquired companies (Scapa, GCR and its controlled companies) are active.