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: 02/09/2019

In electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32019M9486

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 2.9.2019 C(2019) 6411 final

PUBLIC VERSION

To the notifying party

Dear Sir or Madam,

1.1. On 7 August 2019, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (“GBL”, Belgium) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control of the whole of Webhelp SAS and its subsidiaries (“Webhelp”, France).

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.

2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

-- for GBL: an investment holding company which invests in global companies operating in various sectors and mainly in Europe. The only subsidiary in which GBL has a controlling interest is Imerys SA (“Imerys”), a French multinational specialised in the production and processing of industrial minerals;

-- for Webhelp: Information Technology (“IT”) service provider active primarily in the provision of business process outsourcing services. It offers a range of core services such as technical assistance for customer loyalty services and claims management, multichannel client data collections, digital and marketing services, payment services and enterprise solutions. Webhelp is mainly active in Europe but has a worldwide presence.

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 273, 14.08.2019, p. 4.

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(b) 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) Cecilio MADERO VILLAREJO Acting Director-General

4OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.

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