1.   

On 6 October 2020, 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:

—	Unilabs Holding AB (“Unilabs”, Sweden),

—	Medbase AG (“Medbase”, Switzerland)

Unilabs and Medbase acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a newly created company constituting a joint venture (“the JV”).

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.

2.   

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—	for Unilabs: provision of bio-medical testing services, medical imaging services, reproductive medicine services and drug development services in a number of European countries,

—	for Medbase: provision of medical and therapeutic services exclusively in Switzerland,

—	the JV: provision of medical laboratory diagnostics services exclusively in Switzerland and predominantly in Eastern Switzerland.

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.

Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under the Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.

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.9861 — Unilabs/Medbase/JV

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