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: 19/03/2018

In electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32018M8799

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 19.3.2018 C(2018) 1760 final

PUBLIC VERSION

To the notifying parties

Dear Sir or Madam,

1.1. On 20 February 2018, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which the undertakings Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. (‘MISI’, Japan) and Sumitomo Corporation (‘Sumitomo’, Japan), acquire within the meaning of Articles 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the whole of the undertaking Hiroshima Steel Center Co. Ltd (‘Hiroshima Steel’, Japan), currently controlled by MISI, by way of purchase of shares.

2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

- for MISI: import, export, manufacture, processing and sale of iron and steel products,

- for Sumitomo: trading and investments in various sectors of the economy, such as metal products,

- for Hiroshima Steel: processing and sales of steel products.

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 082, 05.03.2018, p. 6.

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(a) 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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