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Germany: Bundeskartellamt allows EDEKA to acquire Handelshof

 |  July 4, 2019

On Monday, July 1, the Bundeskartellamt cleared EDEKA’s acquisition of the Handelshof group. The merger concerns the acquisition of 100% of the limited partner shares and sole control of the Handelshof group by EDEKA ZENTRALE AG & Co. and EDEKA Foodservice Stiftung & Co.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt stated, “We have analysed the sales and procurement markets in this case in greater depth and found that the EDEKA/Handelshof merger did not pose a problem to competition in any of the regional food wholesale markets. The procurement side was also subject to careful economic assessment as we know that EDEKA has a strong market position here. However our investigations have shown that with well below 0.5 % the Handelshof group’s share of the total nationwide procurement volume could be considered so small that EDEKA’s increase in share resulting from the acquisition will have no significant effect on competition.”

After intensive preliminary investigations, the examination of the merger could be concluded within the one-month first phase of merger control proceedings. As part of its investigations, the Bundeskartellamt consulted over 100 competitors and customers as well as business associations. In particular, the market areas of Bielefeld, Detmold, and Arnsberg/Hamm were subject to an in-depth analysis.

Full Content: Bundeskartellamt

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