Unibail-Rodamco Investments has pulled out its bid to take over Złote Tarasy mall, after Poland’s antitrust regulator refused to greenlight the deal, stating the deal could harm the local retail market. The French giant already owns two other key retail assets in Warsaw: 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 more than 40 percent market share, which, in light of UOKiK regulations, would give them what’s called a dominant market position,” the regulator wrote in an official statement.
UOKiK conducted a survey of more than 200 market participants, including real estate investors, retail tenants and agents. “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 its findings.
