20.12.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 373/31

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.7078 — Santander Customer Finance/El Corte Inglés/Financier El Corte Inglés)

(Text with EEA relevance)

2013/C 373/12

1.

On 13 December 2013, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertakings Santander Customer Finance SA (‘SCF’, Spain) belonging to the Santander Group and El Corte Inglés SA (‘ECI’, Spain) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the Financiera El Corte Inglés E.F.C., SA (‘FECI’, Spain) by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—

for SCF: consumer credit activities, namely card issuing and loans, offered at the point of sales (through dealers and merchant outlets) and directly to customers in the EEA,

—

for ECI: retail distribution based on the department store model in Spain and in Portugal,

—

for FECI: personal loans to customers and financing through private label cards for the acquisition of goods and services in stores of the ECI Group and in business premises of certain retails.

3.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope the EC Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.

4.

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by e-mail to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number COMP/M.7078 — Santander Customer Finance/El Corte Inglés/Financier El Corte Inglés, to the following address:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

Merger Registry

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘EC Merger Regulation’).