L 296/42 Official Journal of the European Communities 30.10.2002 COMMISSION DECISION of 3 April 2002 on the State aid granted by the Federal Republic of Germany for ILKA MAFA Kiltemaschinenbau GmbH (notified under document number C(2002) 1190) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2002/823[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 the provisions cited above (1), Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter dated 27 March 1998 Germany informed the Commission of restructuring aid for the privatisation of ILKA MAFA Kiltemaschinenbau GmbH (ILKA MAFA) and its sale to Carrier. However, Carrier withdrew from the privatisation contract on 31 December 1998. On 30 December 1999, Germany again notified restruc- turing aid for the privatisation of ILKA MAFA; the purchasing company this time was GEA AG. By letter dated 3 April 2000 Germany provided the Commission with further information. By letter dated 1 August 2000, the Commission in- formed Germany that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of the aid to ILKA MAFA. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (2). The Commission invited interested par- ties to submit their comments on the aid. The Commission received no comments from interested parties. (1) 0] C 278, 30.9.2000, p. 9. (2) See footnote 1. (6) ILKA MAFA is a successor company (3) to the former ILKA MAFA Kiltetechnik GmbH (Ilka-old). Ilka-old belonged to a group of eight companies from the former GDR which were first privatised in 1994 as the EFBE Verwaltungs GmbH & Co. Management KG, now Lintra Beteiligungsholding GmbH. Since the original privatisa- tion concept failed in December 1996, it was decided in January 1997 by the Bundesanstalt fiir vereingungsbe- dingte Sonderaufgaben (BvS) to continue the restructur- ing of potentially viable Lintra-subsidiaries with the aim of preparing these companies for resale. Since Ilka-old had received aid that was to be assessed in the context of the other notified restructuring aid, the case was registered as non-notified aid. The aid paid to Ilka-old via Lintra Beteiligungsholding GmbH was the subject of Commission Decision 2001/673/EC on aid to EFBE Verwaltungs GmbH & Co. Management KG/Lintra Betei- ligungsholding GmbH (4). [I. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID ILKA MAFA was set up at the end of 1997 by Ilka-old in preparation for the second privatisation after it had become evident that the privatisation concept under Lintra Beteiligungsholding GmbH had failed. From 11 December 1997 onwards, Ilka-old was named Dipa-Industrie- und Vermogensverwaltungsgesellschaft (Dipa). Insolvency proceedings were started against Dipa on 1 January 2000. A privatisation contract was concluded in 1997 with Carrier. Carrier, however, withdrew its interest on 31 December 1998. Following this, BvS started looking for another investor, contacting ten domestic and foreign manufacturers of refrigeration plant and machinery. GEA AG was the only company which was interested in taking over ILKA MAFA. (®) A separate hive-off vehicle (Auffanggesellschaft). (*) OJ L 236,5.9.2001, p. 3.