Poland’s antitrust regulator rejected Unibail-Rodamco Investments’ pending takeover of the Złote Tarasy shopping center in Warsaw, stating that the acquisition could harm competition on the local market. Unibail-Rodamco already acquired two other key retail assets in Poland: Galeria Mokotów and the Arkadia shopping center.
“UOKiK has found that the transaction may lead to a substantial lessening of competition on the Warsaw rental market… as it gives the sides of the transaction the market share of more than 40 percent, which, in the light of UOKiK regulation, would give them what’s called a dominant market position,” the regulator wrote in an official statement.
Prior the decision, UOKiK conducted a survey with more than 200 market participants, including real estate investors, retail tenants and agents, who pointed out that, for a number of reasons, small and medium-sized retail, don’t stand a chance with large-scale shopping malls in Poland. “Based on these materials, UOKiK found that small retail centers, as well as Poland’s high-street retail, are not fully substitutional in terms of leasing of retail space,” the UOKiK wrote in the statement.
