Salling Group has received approval from the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) to take over Tesco Polska, the Office said.
“The conducted investigation showed that in each of the examined cities, Netto will have to compete with other discounters, supermarkets and hypermarkets after the acquisition of Tesco outlets. This means that after the transaction the structure of these markets will not change to the detriment of consumers, suppliers or entrepreneurs running smaller stores “- said the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, quoted in the press release.
The application for the takeover of Tesco Polska by the Salling Group was initially submitted to the European Commission. However, the EC decided that due to the scope of the transaction and experience in similar cases, UOKiK would be more competent to consider the case, therefore it transferred the case to Poland, it was also stated.
“About 1,100 discount stores operate under the Netto brand in Denmark, Germany and Poland, 386 of which are in our country. Tesco Polska owns a chain of hypermarkets and supermarkets. Currently, it has 320 stores, two distribution centers and 23 petrol stations. there are 301 stores, 14 petrol stations, headquarters and distribution centers. The transaction results from the Tesco group’s decision to withdraw from the Polish market.”
In the course of the proceedings, the state of competition in several dozen local markets was examined. After analyzing the concentration and in accordance with the previous jurisprudence, the President of UOKiK assumed that supermarkets, hypermarkets and discounters compete directly with each other on local markets within a radius of 10-15 km from the acquired store. This is the most common maximum distance consumers are willing to travel on their way to a larger store, see below.
“In addition to the decision regarding the purchase of Tesco Polska, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued a decision in February 2021 on the temporary takeover of eight Tesco stores by Salling Group. These are outlets in Gliwice, Szczecin, Kraków, Gdynia, Kielce, Katowice, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Warsaw. The Salling Group plans to permanently acquire only the store in the last of these locations, the remaining ones will be taken over temporarily as the Tesco group ends its activity in Poland and are to be sold to other entities in the future. Tesco.”
UOKiK reminded that in accordance with the Act on competition and consumer protection, a transaction is subject to notification to the antimonopoly office if it involves entrepreneurs whose total turnover in the previous year exceeded EUR 1 billion in the world or EUR 50 million in Poland.
Source: ISBnews and Netto
