1.   

On 11 November 2024, 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:

—	Valeo F4 Company Limited (‘Valeo Foods’) (Ireland), ultimately controlled by Bain Capital Investors, LLC (United States),

—	IDC Holding, a.s. (‘IDC Holding’) (Slovakia), controlled by Finhold, s.r.o. (Slovakia).

Valeo Foods will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control of the whole of IDC Holding.

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.

2.   

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are the following:

—	Valeo Foods is an international manufacturer and distributor of a range of food products, including sugar and chocolate confectionery, sweet snacks, savoury snacks, sauces, spreads, and a variety of other ambient grocery products,

—	IDC Holding is a manufacturer and distributor of branded sweet snacks and confectionary products, including countlines, wafers, biscuits, sponge cakes & gingerbread, assorted candies and other sorts of chocolate and sugar confectionary products.

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.11725 – VALEO FOODS / IDC HOLDING

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

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

Postal address:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

Merger Registry

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË