EUROPEAN COMMISSION DG Competition

Only the English text is available and authentic.

REGULATION (EC) No 139/2004 MERGER PROCEDURE

Article 6(1)(b) NON-OPPOSITION Date: 23/08/2019

In electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32019M9437

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 23.08.2019 C(2019) 6270 final

PUBLIC VERSION

To the notifying party

Subject: Case M.9437— WÜRTH GROUP/GES Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 and Article 57 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area

Dear Sir or Madam,

1.1. On 29 July 2019, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which the undertaking FEGA & Schmitt Elektrogroßhandel GmbH (Germany), belonging to the group Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG (‘Würth Group’, Germany), acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control over the whole of the undertaking Grupo Electro Stocks, S.L.U. (‘GES’, Spain) by way of purchase of shares.

2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

-− for Würth Group: wholesale distribution of products and systems manufactured by third parties mainly to professional end users in trade and industry, including electrical installation, industrial automation, cables and wires, tools, data and network technology, lighting and illumination, household appliances and multimedia products, as well as electrical domestic heating technology and regenerative power generation.

-− for GES: distribution of electrical and fluid materials in Spain mainly to other professionals in the construction sector.

1OJ 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.

2OJ L 1, 3.1.1994, p. 3 (the ‘EEA Agreement’).

3Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union No C 264, 06.08.2019, p. 7.

Commission européenne, DG COMP MERGER REGISTRY, 1049 Bruxelles, BELGIQUE Europese Commissie, DG COMP MERGER REGISTRY, 1049 Brussel, BELGIË

Tel: +32 229-91111. Fax: +32 229-64301. E-mail: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu.

4.3. 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.

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 and Article 57 of the EEA Agreement.

For the Commission

(Signed) Johannes LAITENBERGER Director-General

4OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.

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