• UOKiK gave consent to Panathea taking over Dolnośląska Grupa Apteczna.
• The transaction can be conducted on condition that two pharmacies in Brzeg and one in Legnica will be sold.
• This year, UOKiK has reached for this solution for the fourth time.

The transaction participants operate on the pharmaceutical market. Panathea belongs to the Dalferon capital group and is the owner of a chain of pharmacies and dispensaries in eight provinces. Dolnośląska Grupa Apteczna (the Lower Silesian Pharmacy Group) runs 17 pharmacies and one dispensary in four provinces.

The preliminary investigation showed that the planned transaction may adversely affect some of the local markets of retail sale of pharmaceutical products in the provinces of Lowers Silesia and Opolskie. For that reason, having analysed the application, the Office referred the takeover to the second stage of proceedings.

Our investigation showed that consent to the concentration would mean a restriction of competition in some towns, since the total estimated share of both companies would exceed 40 percent. We could, however, give a conditional consent. We decided that the sale of two pharmacies located in Brzeg, at ul. Łokietka 24 and at ul. Długa 2, and one in Legnica at ul. Iwaszkiewicza 1, would still allow the patients to freely choose a shop where they want to buy medicines, says the President of UOKiK, Marek Niechciał.

The buyer must be accepted by UOKiK. It cannot belong to the same capital group as Panathea does. The purchase contract must contain a clause ensuring that the investor will provide pharmacy services in these three locations mentioned above. In addition, Panathea will have to inform the office that this condition was met within 30 days of its fulfilment.

How the UOKiK defined the market

In any concentration control case, the key issue is to identify markets where parties to the transaction operate and usually compete. When vetting this transaction, UOKiK found that pharmacies and dispensaries, as in the case of retail sale of consumer goods, operate on the local market. Pharmacies and dispensaries compete for clients within a one-kilometre radius. This is the maximum distance consumers are willing to cover to buy medicines.

Pursuant to legal regulations, a transaction must be reported to UOKiK if it involves enterprises with total turnover for the previous year that exceeded EUR 1 billion in the world or EUR 50 million in Poland. When analysing the concentration, the President of the Office may prohibit the transaction, give consent to it or make its consent conditional on an enterprise fulfilling additional conditions. Decisions are valid for two years. Since 2004, this has been the 29th decision imposing obligations on the applicant and the fourth one issued this year.

This decision is not final. The applicant may appeal to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection. At the same time we inform that the UOKiK website provides information on all antitrust proceedings regarding concentration conducted by the Office.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
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Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL