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Germany: Allows supermarket deal on condition no jobs are lost

By  |  March 17, 2016

Germany’s Economy Minister overturned a decision by the competition watchdog and approved a deal for Edeka, the country’s biggest supermarket group, to buy grocery chain Kaiser’s, on condition that jobs are not lost.

Germany’s federal cartel office stopped the planned deal between the unlisted retailers last year, saying the takeover would limit competition in big cities such as Berlin and Munich would could lead to price increases in Europe’s biggest economy.

Kaiser’s owner Tengelmann had warned that if the deal failed it could mean the closure of the supermarket chain and the loss of 16,000 jobs.

Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who is leader of the Social Democrats, made it a condition of his approval that jobs at Kaiser’s would be safeguarded over the next five years.

Rival supermarket chain Rewe, which had also sought to buy Kaiser’s from Tengelmann, said it would fight the deal by filing a complaint with a German court.

Full content: Reuters

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