On 13 May 2008, the European Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration by which The Carlyle Group
(‘Carlyle’, USA) acquires control of the whole of the undertaking Neochimiki L.V. Lavrentiadis SA (‘Neochimiki’, Greece) by way of purchase of shares.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

Carlyle: The Carlyle Group is one of the world's largest private equity firms, with more than $81.1 billion under management. With 60 funds across four investment disciplines (buyouts, venture & growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance), Carlyle combines global vision with local insight, relying on a top-flight team of 575 investment professionals operating out of offices in 21 countries to uncover superior opportunities in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East/North Africa and Latin America.

Neochimiki: distribution and production of chemicals.

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 Saturday 31st pg May 2008 to:
European Commission
Directorate-General for Competition
Merger Registry
J-70
B-1049 Bruxelles/Brussel
or by fax ((32-2) 296 43 01 or 296 72 44).

The Official Text was published in the 21st May 2008 in the Official Journal of the European Union.