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: 31/03/2020

In electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32020M9747

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 31.03.2020 C(2020) 2086 final

PUBLIC VERSION

To the notifying parties

Subject: Case M.9747 – Lagardère Travel Retail/BTA/JV 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.On 6 March 2020, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Lagardère Travel Retail S.A.S. (‘Lagardère’, France), belonging to the Lagardère group (France) and BTA Havalimanlari Yiyecek Ve Icecek Hizmetleri A.S. (‘BTA’, Turkey), belonging to the Aéroports de Paris group (‘ADP’, France) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

- for undertaking Lagardère: offers travel retail and food services and is currently active in 39 countries worldwide, including Europe and the Middle-East. Lagardère is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Lagardère SCA, the ultimate parent company of the French Lagardère group that is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange,

- for undertaking BTA: offers food and beverage services at airports and sea lines in nine countries in Europe and the Middle-East. It belongs to Aéroport de Paris SA’s group of companies that is incorporated in France and listed on the Paris Stock Exchange,

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 83, 13.3.2020, p. 71.

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.

 for the newly created joint venture: active in the operation of foodservices and travel retail services concessions at airports in Jordan, notably at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman.

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.

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.

2