Disclaimer :

The Competition DG makes the information provided by the notifying parties in section 1.2 of Form CO available to the public in order to increase transparency. This information has been prepared by the notifying parties under their sole responsibility, and its content in no way prejudges the view the Commission may take of the planned operation. Nor can the Commission be held responsible for any incorrect or misleading information contained therein.

COMP/M.4079

SECTION 1.2

Description of the concentration

Mitsui & Co., Ltd (ìMitsuiî) and Evraz Group S.A. (ìEvrazî) propose to acquire joint control of Coke Oven Overseas Contribution Limited (the ìCompanyî), a company (presently controlled solely by Evraz) which is the holding company for a new coking coal mining project which will exploit the Denisovskaya coal field in Yakutia, East Siberia, and sell the coal produced to customers in Asia. The Company and its direct and indirect subsidiaries will constitute a joint venture performing on a lasting basis all the functions of an autonomous economic entity for purposes of Section 3(4) of the EC Merger Regulation.

Evraz is a vertically-integrated steel and mining business with operations mainly in Russia. It produces a number of steel products and conducts various ancillary activities such as the mining of iron ore and coking coal. In 2005, Evraz acquired 75% of the shares of Palini e Bertoli SpA, an Italy based maker of hot-rolled steel products, and 98.96% of the shares of Vitkovice Steel, a platemaker in the Czech Republic.

Mitsui is a publicly owned general trading company organized under the laws of Japan which together with its subsidiaries is engaged in a number of businesses, including power and energy related products, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, machinery, electronics, chemicals, food products, textiles, general merchandise and real estate. Its other businesses include industrial project management, information technology, biotechnology and financial services.

The proposed concentration has a Community dimension pursuant to EC Merger Regulation Article 1(2) because the aggregate worldwide turnover of the undertakings concerned exceeds Euros 5,000 Million (Mitsui = Euros 26,083 Million; Evraz = Euros 5,359 Million) and each has Community-wide turnover of more than Euros 250 Million (Mitsui = Euros [over 1,000] Million; Evraz = Euros [over 500] Million); and the undertakings concerned do not achieve more than two-thirds of their Community-wide turnover within one and the same Member State.