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whole share capital of Speelhoorn immediately or after a certain period of time. In the
Commission’s view, an essential element to restore effective competition is that the
purchaser of a majority share must be an independent undertaking unconnected to the
Blokker group which is able to maintain and develop the Toys “R” Us business as an
active competitive force on the market.
131. In addition, the Commission must be put in a position to evaluate whether a chosen
purchaser satisfies the abovementioned requirements. Therefore, it is necessary for
Blokker to obtain the approval of the Commission before entering into a binding
agreement with such a third party. In a request for approval, evidence that the third party
satisfies the abovementioned requirements must be produced in order to put the
Commission in a position to assess the choice of third party. If the Commission does not
either formally indicate its disagreement with the choice of the third party or require
further evidence that the third party satisfies the abovementioned requirements, within
two weeks after submission of the request, the transfer of the share capital to a third party
should be free to proceed.
132. The Commission further acknowledges that, in the light of the specific circumstances of
the case, in particular the poor performance of the Toys “R” Us business in
the Netherlands since its establishment in 1993, there may be difficulties in attracting a
third party to purchase the whole of the Toys “R” Us business. For this reason, the
Commission considers that the continued presence of Blokker in the form of a 20%
minority shareholding in combination with the active presence of Blokker on the
management board of Speelhoorn can, at least for a certain period of time, serve both to
demonstrate the confidence of Blokker in the future viability of the company and to
guarantee the development of the company into a viable business within this period.
However, in the light of the specific circumstances of this case, the Commission
considers that Blokker’s representation on the Board should not only be reduced but,
after a certain period of time, in this case [...] years after the transfer of the shareholding
to the third party, eliminated completely.
133. In reaching this conclusion, the Commission takes into account the following specific
circumstances of the case. The management board of a small retail company such as
Speelhoorn will by its nature be composed of a small number of representatives which
are closely involved in the commercial policy of the company. Although Blokker
undertakes not to interfere with Speelhoorn’s freedom to determine independently its
commercial policy, the presence of Blokker on the board will still give it access to
information on the commercial decisions which it could use for its own competitive
strategy and also in relation to the competitive strategy of the Toys “R” Us business
operated by Speelhoorn. This possibility is to be evaluated especially in the light of the
fact that, for a certain period of time, Blokker will have been operating the Toys “R” Us
business on its own and that, even after the implementation of the divestiture as set out in
the proposals, Blokker has a dominant position on the market. Therefore the Commission
considers it necessary in order to ensure that effective competition is restored on the
market, that Blokker’s active presence on the management board should be eliminated
once the viability of the company is established. This can be achieved by ordering
Blokker to end its presence on the management board [...] years after the transfer of a
majority shareholding in Speelhoorn to a third party.
134. The active presence of Blokker in Speelhoorn can also be ended by giving the third party
the opportunity, should it wish to do so, to purchase the share capital of Speelhoorn held
by Blokker. [...].