L 199/28 Official Journal of the European Union 7.8.2003 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 5 March 2003 on the State aid which the United Kingdom is planning to grant to CDC Group plc (notified under document number C(2003) 651) (Only the English text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2003/590/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com- munity, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 88(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to those provisions (), Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE By letter dated 17 January 2001, the United Kingdom notified the Commission of the aid to CDC Group plc. It provided the Commission with further information by a letter dated 5 June 2001, registered on 8 June 2001, a letter dated 18 September 2001, registered on 21 September 2001, and a letter dated 29 May 2002, regis- tered on 7 June 2002. By letter dated 2 July 2002, the Commission informed the United Kingdom that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the Treaty in respect of the aid. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Commu- nities (}). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments. The Commission received no comments from interested parties. 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID The overall purpose of the scheme is to support the United Kingdom Government's international develop- ment policy. According to the United Kingdom, most () 0] C 223, 19.9.2002, p. 6. () See footnote 1. foreign investment in developing countries is focused on only a few of the richer developing countries. It is believed that financial sectors in poorer countries are underdeveloped and that official and market information about investment opportunities and potential returns is inadequate. The legal basis of this measure is the CDC Act 1999. The CDC Group plc (CDC) is the United Kingdom Government's main instrument for investing in the poorer countries. The purpose of CDC is to maximise the creation and long-term growth of viable businesses in developing countries, especially poorer countries. CDC is not a tax planning instrument, nor an instrument to repatriate passive income. By transforming CDC into a public private partnership, the United Kingdom autho- rities seek to encourage private investment flows to the poorer countries. CDC is expected to remedy the market failure by demonstrating that commercial returns are available from such investments. The Government has therefore imposed an operating framework on CDC, according to which it is required to make 70 % of new investments (by aggregate value) in poorer developing countries (}) over a rolling five-year period and to seck to make at least half of new investments in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The United Kingdom authorities originally intended to sell the majority of shares in CDC rather soon. However, by letter dated 12 August 2002, they informed the Commission that it would not be possible in the current market conditions to obtain value for money from such a sale. The sale still remains an objective for the future and there will then be open competition and full publi- cising of the CDC investment opportunity. (®) ‘Poorer developing countries’ are those classified as ‘low income’ by the World Bank in 1998, and those which were classified as lower middle income’ by the World Bank in 1998 and whose GNP per capita is below the weighted mean for lower middle income coun- tries. The definition also includes 11 countries for which the World Bank does not currently collect GNP data.