Brussels reviews Samsung and GS E&C joint venture for Polish warehouses

The European Commission received on 14 September 2026 notification of a proposed concentration by which Samsung SRA Asset Management Co., Ltd. and GS Engineering & Construction Corp. will acquire joint control of Bursera sp. z o.o., a greenfield joint venture in Poland. The notification, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C series, of 22 September 2026 under reference C/2026/4927, opens a ten-day window for interested third parties to submit observations. The case is registered as M.12546 – SAMSUNG / GS E&C / JV and is a candidate for treatment under the simplified procedure.

The transaction and the parties

The operation is carried out by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture, and the joint control is assessed under Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation. The undertakings concerned are:

• Samsung SRA Asset Management Co., Ltd. (Samsung SRA), of South Korea, belonging to the Samsung Group, a manager of several real estate funds globally.
• GS Engineering & Construction Corp. (GS E&C), of South Korea, belonging to the GS group, a global construction contractor active in industrial facilities, energy infrastructure, residential and commercial architecture, general infrastructure and property development, as well as other investment activities.
• Bursera sp. z o.o. (Bursera), of Poland, the joint venture itself, whose business will be the operation and rental of real estate property, specifically a warehouse, in Poland.

The notified concentration therefore brings together a Korean real estate fund manager and a Korean construction group in a vehicle created to hold and lease logistics warehousing assets on the Polish market.

Legal framework and procedure

The notification was submitted pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings, published in OJ L 24 of 29 January 2004, p. 1. On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation, although the final decision on this point is expressly reserved.

The case is a candidate for the simplified treatment set out in the Commission Notice on a simplified treatment for certain concentrations under that Regulation, published in OJ C 160 of 5 May 2023, p. 1. That route is reserved for transactions that are unlikely to raise competition concerns, typically because the parties’ combined market position is limited or the overlap between their activities is minimal.

Deadline and how to comment

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed concentration. The key conditions are:

• Observations must reach the Commission no later than 10 days following the date of publication of the notice, that is, by 2 October 2026.
• The reference M.12546 – SAMSUNG / GS E&C / JV must always be specified.
• Submissions may be sent by email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post to the European Commission, Directorate-General for Competition, Merger Registry, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, Belgium.

The notice carries EEA relevance and is identified by the ELI http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/4927/oj.

Why it matters

The case illustrates the continued appetite of Asian industrial and real estate capital for European logistics assets, with a Korean construction major and a Korean fund manager joining forces in a Polish warehousing vehicle. Because it is a greenfield joint venture with no existing overlapping warehouse business, it is being channelled towards the simplified procedure, meaning clearance is likely to be swift unless third parties raise objections before the 2 October 2026 deadline. For operators tracking merger control in the logistics and real estate sector, M.12546 is the reference to follow.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, C/2026/4927, 22.9.2026, section I (official reference: CELEX C_202604927).