Prior notification of a concentration procedure between Rabobank and polish bank Bank Gospodarki Żywnościowe, was published on January 16th in the Official Journal of the European Union.

On January 8th 2009, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) Nº 139/2004 by which the undertaking Rabobank International Holding B.V. (‘Rabobank’, the Netherlands), acquires within the meaning of Article 3.1 b) of the Council Regulation sole control of the undertaking Bank Gospodarki Żywnościowej S.A. (‘BGZ’, Poland), an undertaking jointly controlled by Rabobank and the State Treasury of the Republic of Poland, by way of amendment
of the rules of governance of BGZ.

Main activities of the companies concerned by concentration

• Rabobank: bank and credit institution active in retail and corporate banking, financial services and provision of mortgages.
• BGZ: provision of banking services to private individuals, small and medium enterprises, large corporate and government institutions. BGZ specialises in provision of banking services to customer of rural areas and small towns as well as customers from the agricultural and food-processing sectors.

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 10 days following the date of this publication.

Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax ((32-2) 296 43 01 or 296 72 44) or by post, under reference number COMP/M.5228 — Rabobank/BGZ, to the following address:

European Commission
Directorate-General for Competition
Merger Registry
J-70
B-1049 Brussels