Decision Nº M/08/033 from Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, 2008-10-19

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Parties: Sony Corporation,Sony NEC Optiarc Inc
• Date: 19 October 2008
• Decision Date: 19 October 2008
• Decision Number: M/08/033
• Court: Commissioner for Environmental Information

Merger Notification No. M/08/033 – Sony/Sony NEC Optiarc

DETERMINATION OF MERGER NOTIFICATION M/08/033 -

Sony/Sony NEC Optiarc

Section 21 of the Competition Act 2002

Proposed acquisition by Sony Corp oration of Sony NEC Optiarc Inc.

Dated 19/11/2008

Introduction

1. On 29 October 2008, the Competition Authority (the “Authority”), in

accordance with section 18(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 (“the

Act”) was notified, on a mandat ory basis, of a proposed acquisition of

sole control by Sony Corporation (“Sony”) of Sony NEC Opt iarc Inc.

(“Sony NEC Optiarc”).

2. Sony currently directly holds 55 % of Sony NEC Optiarc’s sha re capital.

The propos ed acquisition involves the acqu isition by Sony of the 45%

of the share capital of Sony NEC Optiarc that is currently owned by

NEC Corporation (“NEC”). Post acquisition, Sony will control 100% of

the share capital of Sony NEC Optiarc.

The Undertakings Involved

The Acquirer

3. Sony is a global enterta inment and electronics company headq uartered

in Tokyo, Japan. It is the u ltimate parent company of the Sony group

of companies. Sony is active in the manufac turing and

commercialisation at a worldwide level of elect ronic consumer products

(e.g. televisions, audio and video players, personal computers, and car

navigation systems) as well as electronic components for those

products (e.g. LSI s, optical pick-ups, a udio/video/data recording

media, data recording systems and batteries).

4. Sony has three subsidiaries in the State: (1) Sony Computer

Entertainment Ireland Limited; (2) The Extreme Music Library (Ireland)

Limited; and, (3) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (Ireland) Limited.

Sony’s turnov er in the State for the financi al year 2007 did not relate

to optical disk drives (“ODD”) products.

The Target

5. Sony NEC Optiarc is a joint venture between Sony and NEC

1

. The joint

venture was established on 3 April 2006, following merger control

clearance by the European Commission, which was granted on 31

March 2006.

2

Sony NEC Optiarc is active in the development, design,

1

NEC is the u ltimate parent company of the NEC group of companies. NEC is a global electronics

company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is active in two main sectors: IT products and

services, mainly supplied to government agencies and enterprises (e.g. software, PC servers and

personal computers), and network communications (e.g. broadband technology, mobile

telephones and handsets).

2

Case No COMP/M.4139, Sony / NEC / JV, 31 March 2006.