1.   

On 14 May 2020, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 and following a referral pursuant to Article 4(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).

This notification concerns the following undertakings:

—	Nouryon Chemicals International B.V. (‘Nouryon’, the Netherlands),

—	CP Kelco CMC (Denmark).

Nouryon acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of the whole of CP Kelco CMC.

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of equity and assets.

2.   

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—

Nouryon: a global manufacturer and supplier of specialty chemicals company producing a wide range of chemicals such as salt, chlorine and caustic products; chemical intermediates, surfactants and processing chemicals and cellulose derivatives. It was formerly known as Akzo Nobel Specialty Chemicals and is solely controlled by funds managed by affiliates of the Carlyle group,

—	CP Kelco CMC: the carboxymethyl cellulose (‘CMC’) business of CP Kelco ApS and Huber.

3.   

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the 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. The following reference should always be specified:

Case M.9756 – Nouryon/CP Kelco

Observations can be sent to the Commission by email, by fax, or by post. Please use the contact details below:

Email: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu

Fax +32 22964301

Postal address:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

Merger Registry

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË