On 17 June 2008, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration following a referral pursuant to Article 22(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertaking Arsenal Capital Partners (‘Arsenal’, USA) via Arsenal Capital Partners QPII (‘ACP QPII’) and DAC Acquisition BV acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation control of the whole of the undertaking DSM Special Products BV (‘DSP’ the Netherlands) belonging to the Royal DSM NV (‘DSM’, the Netherlands) by way of purchase of shares.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are

• Arsenal: private equity firm, active via its portfolio company, Velsicol, in the manufacture and supply of benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, benzoate plasticisers. 
• DSM: manufacture and supply of toluene based products, including benzoic acid, sodium benzoate.

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 the 10th July.