Jeronimo Martins Polska, owner of the Biedronka chain, is allowed to take over some of the Marcpol company’s property. 11 shops in the Mazowieckie, Łódzkie and Śląskie Voivodeships will change their owner. The proceedings conducted by UOKiK indicated that the transaction is not going to restrict competition.

The Jeronimo Martins Polska’s application for consent to take over a part of the Marcpol company’s property was filed to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) in March 2014. The undertakings involved in the concentration scheme specialise in sales of daily consumer goods (DCG). Jeronimo Martins Polska owns a network of nearly 2.5 thousand Biedronka discount stores. The transaction will consist in purchase of 11 shops operating under the business name of and belonging to Marcpol – five in Warsaw, others located in Marki, Laski, Wyszków, Radomsko, Łódź and Zabrze.

During the conducted proceedings, UOKiK analysed the transaction’s impact on the local DCG markets, situated near the facilities subject to takeover. The analysis indicated that Jeronimo Martins Polska will not achieve a dominant position thereon and will still be forced to compete with other shops.

The impact of the concentration on the national daily consumer goods supply market was also analysed. The increase of the market share of the company exercising the takeover will be minimal and will not have any influence on this market’s structure.

According to the law, the transaction is subject to notification to the antitrust authority if it involves entrepreneurs whose aggregate turnover generated in the preceding year exceeded EUR 1 billion worldwide or EUR 50 million in Poland.

The decisions of the UOKiK’s President authorizing the concentrations expire if the mergers are not performed within 2 years from their issue. The UOKiK’s website publishes information on all concentration-related anti-monopoly proceedings conducted by the Office. More information about the principles governing mergers can be found in a specially compiled paper.

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel. 22 827 28 92, 55 60 314, 55 60 430
Fax 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]