Decision Nº M/12/009 from Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, 2012-07-12

JurisdictionIreland
PartiesDZ Bank AG,WGZ Initiativkapital GmbH,WGZ Bank AG,DZ Equity Partner GmbH
Date12 July 2012
Decision NumberM/12/009
StatusCleared (Phase 1)
CourtCompetition and Consumer Protection Commission (Ireland)
Decision Date12 July 2012
Merger Notification No. M/12/009 – DZ Bank/WGZ Bank
DETERMINATION OF MERGER NOTIFICATION M/12/009 -
DZ BANK/WGZ BANK
Section 21 of the Competition Act 2002
Proposed acquisition of j oint control by DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-
Genossenschaftsbank and WGZ Bank AG Westdeutsche
Genossenschafts-Zentralbank of DZ Equity Partner GmbH
Dated 12 July 2012
Introduction
1. On 21 June 2012, i n accordance with secti on 18 of the Competiti on Act
2002 (“ the Act”), the Competition Authority (the “Authority”) received
a notification of a proposed transaction whereby DZ Bank A G Deutsche
Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank (“DZ Bank”) and WGZ Bank AG
Westdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank (“WGZ Ban k”) would
merge their respective wholly-owned private equity businesses, DZ
Equity Partner GmbH (“DZ EP”) and WGZ Initiativkapit al GmbH (“WGZ
IK”), with DZ Bank an d WGZ Bank t hen having joint control of the
merged entity.
2. Following completion of th e proposed transaction, WGZ IK will cease to
exist and the merged entity, DZ EP, will be renamed VR Equity Partner
GmbH.
The Undertakings Involved
DZ Bank
3. DZ Bank is a central and commercial bank in corporated in Germany. It
is the fourth largest bank in Germany and is a member of the
Association of Cooperative Banks in Germany, which services around
30 milli on private and corporate cu stomers. Within the Association of
Cooperative Banks, DZ Bank acts as a central bank for approximately
900 cooperative banks and, in this capacity, it provides services and
support for individual cooperative banks in German y, including liquidity
equalisation.
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4. In addition to its central bank fu nction within the cooperative banking
sector in Germany, DZ Bank also acts as a n ational clearing bank for
corporate custom ers. DZ Bank offers the complete spectrum of
banking services to its customers, mainly in Germany, including retail
banking, corporate and investment banking, private banking, property
finance, public finance, insurance, pen sions, private equity, leasing and
factoring, money transfers, card services, issuance of bonds, credit
processing, balance sheet management and asset man agement.
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DZ Bank provided the Authority with the following explanation of liquidity eq ualisation: “In this
function, DZ Bank invests cooperative banks' short-term surplus cash and obtains long-term
liquidity r equired by the banks. It thereby ensures that the cooperative financial network has
access to global money and liquidity markets as well as to liquidity provided by central banks.”

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