Case No COMP/M.3257 - VESTAR CAPITAL PARTNERS / FL SELENIA

Only the English text is available and authentic.

REGULATION (EEC) No 4064/89 MERGER PROCEDURE

Article 6(1)(b) NON-OPPOSITION Date: 19/09/2003

Also available in the CELEX database Document No 303M3257

Office for Official Publications of the European Communities L-2985 Luxembourg

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 19/9/2003

SG (2003) D/231870

MERGER PROCEDURE ARTICLE 6(1)(b) DECISION

SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURE

PUBLIC VERSION

To the notifying party

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

Subject: Case No. COMP/M.3257 ñ Vestar Capital Partners/FL Selenia Notification of 19.08.2003 pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4064/891 Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union No. C203 of 28/8/2003, page 7.

1.On 19.08.2003, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4064/89 by which the undertaking Vestar Capital Partners, Inc (ìVestarî, USA) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation control of the whole of the undertaking FL Selenia S.p.A. (ìFL Seleniaî, Italy) by way of purchase of shares.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are :

-- for Vestar : private equity firm;

-- for FL Selenia : manufacture and sale of automotive and industrial lubricants, functional fluids for automobiles and industrial vehicles etc. and replacement parts for vehicles.

1OJ L 395, 30.12.1989 p. 1; corrected version OJ L 257 of 21.9.1990, p. 13, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1310/97, OJ L 180, 9.7.1997, p. 1, corrigendum in OJ L 40, 13.2.1998, p. 17.

Commission europÈenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11.

3.After examination of the notification, the Commission has concluded that the notified operation falls within the scope of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4064/89 and of paragraph 4, subparagraph b, of the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89.

4.For the reasons set out in the Notice on a simplified procedure, the Commission has decided not to oppose the notified operation and to declare it compatible with the common market and with the EEA Agreement. This decision is adopted in application of Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4064/89.

For the Commission

Signed, Mario MONTI Member of the Commission

2OJ C 217, 29.07.2000, p. 32.

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