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Case No COMP/M.6983 - STEINHOFF INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS/ KIKA/ LEINER

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REGULATION (EC) No 139/2004 MERGER PROCEDURE

Article 6(1)(b) NON-OPPOSITION Date: 05/11/2013

In electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32013M6983

Office for Publications of the European Union L-2985 Luxembourg

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 5.11.2013 C(2013) 7594 final

PUBLIC VERSION

SIMPLIFIED MERGER PROCEDURE

To the notifying party

Dear Madam(s) and/or Sir(s),

Subject: Case No COMP/M.6983 - STEINHOFF INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS/ KIKA/ LEINER Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004

1.On 1 October 2013, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by the undertaking Steinhoff International Holdings Limited (“Steinhoff”, South Africa) which acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of the whole of the undertaking Rudolf Leiner Gesellschaft m.b.H. (Austria) and LKM Beteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H. (Austria), (together referred to as “Kika and Leiner”), by way of purchase of shares.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

-− Steinhoff is active internationally in several retail sectors. In Europe, Steinhoff operates retail stores selling, among other things, furniture, kitchens, household goods, products for home decoration and electrical appliances. Steinhoff also manufactures and sells furniture at the wholesale level in Europe and provides certain logistics, supply chain management and warehousing services.

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.

Commission européenne, 1049 Bruxelles, BELGIQUE / Europese Commissie, 1049 Brussel - BELGIË. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11.

-− Kika and Leiner operate retail stores, mainly in Austria, selling furniture, kitchens, household goods, products for home decoration, and small domestic electrical appliances.

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)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.

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

2Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union No C 292, 8.10.2013, p. 7.

3OJ C 56, 5.3.2005, p. 32.

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