The Official Journal of the European Union publishes in its issue dated June 24th the announcement of a prior notification of concentration between the German company SAP and American Sybase. Interested parties are invited to present their opinion on this operation no later than ten days from publication.

On June 16th 2010, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to  Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 by which the German undertaking SAP AG would acquire control of the whole of the American company Sybase by way of public bid.

SAP and Sybase main activities

• SAP AG (Public, NYSE:SAP): provider of Enterprise Application Software Solutions (EAS), including support, consulting, maintenance and other related services. SAP is the world's largest business software company, with more than 47,598 employees at sales and development locations in more than 50 countries worldwide.
• Sybase Inc. (Public, NYSE:SY): software vendor, focusing on databases, data management/middleware and mobile architectures. Founded in Berkeley, California, in 1984, Sybase is market leader in data management, analytics, mobile messaging, and enterprise mobility, with more then 4,000 employees in 60 countries.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope the EC Merger Regulation, however, the final decision on this point is reserved and 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 the  publication, and can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by e-mail to COMP-MERGER- REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number COMP/M.5904 — SAP/Sybase, to the following address:

European Commission
Directorate-General for Competition
Merger Registry
J-70
1049 Bruxelles/Brussel
BELGIQUE/BELGIË