1.   

On 24 May 2022, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).

This notification concerns the following undertakings:

—	Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners X, L.P. and its parallel funds (‘H&F’, United States),

—	NPD Group, L.P., a portfolio company controlled by Hellman & Friedman (‘NPD’, United States),

—	Information Resources, Inc. (‘IRI’, United States).

H&F will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation indirect sole control of IRI through a merger agreement of IRI with NPD.

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.

2.   

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are the following:

—	for H&F: private equity firm,

—	for NPD: market research company,

—	for IRI: market research company which provides consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and analysis focused on consumer packaged goods.

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:

M.10762 – H&F / IRI

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