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: 28/06/2023

In electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32023M11113

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 28.6.2023 C(2023) 4470 final

PUBLIC VERSION

Saudi Aramco Development Company P.O. Box 5000 Dhahran 31311 Saudi Arabia

Deutsche Post AG Charles-de-Gaulle-Str. 20 53113 Bonn Germany

Dear Sir or Madam,

1.On 6 June 2023, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation, by which the undertakings Saudi Aramco Development Company (‘SADCO’, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), controlled by Saudi Arabian Oil Company (‘Saudi Aramco’, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), and Deutsche Post AG, the German parent entity of Deutsche Post DHL Group (together with direct and indirect subsidiaries, ‘DPDHL’, Germany) will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control over the whole of a greenfield joint venture (‘JV’, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) by way of purchase of shares.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are the following:

−− Saudi Aramco is primarily engaged in prospecting, exploring, drilling and extracting hydrocarbon substances and processing, manufacturing, refining and marketing these substances,

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 206, 13.6.2023, p. 15.

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111

−− DPDHL is a global logistics group. It operates in over 220 countries and territories and employs approximately 570,000 people. DPDHL operates under two brands (Deutsche Post and DHL).

3.The business activities of the JV will be the provision of procurement and logistics services. This will include storage and warehouse management and optimization, procurement of inventory items on behalf of customers, inventory and transportation management and optimization. The JV will, inter alia, i) develop, operate and maintain relevant facilities, ii) market, develop, sell and provide its services and iii) conduct research and development activities. It will be active in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and possibly in the wider Middle East and North Africa region.

4.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) of the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004.

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) Olivier GUERSENT Director-General

4OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.

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