Kaufland Is Allowed To Take Over Real Markets

Kaufland Is Allowed To Take Over Real Markets

The Federal Cartel Office has cleared the way for the breaking up of the ailing hypermarket chain Real. The large-scale discounter Kaufland received the green light from the competition authority to take over up to 92 Real stores. The supermarket chain Globus received approval for the acquisition of up to 24 Real locations, as the competition authority announced. For Kaufland, it is the largest takeover in the company's history to date. The company currently operates 670 hypermarkets across Germany and, like Lidl, belongs to the Schwarz Group, the largest food retailer in Europe. Originally Kaufland had even wanted to take over up to 101 Real branches. But in 9 markets the competition watchdogs were cross. Bundeskartellamt President Andreas Mundt emphasized: "We want consumers to have enough choice between different grocery stores where they shop. That is why we are only allowing Kaufland to take over up to 92 Real locations instead of the 101 registered ones." In the cases in which the Cartel Office did not cooperate, the competition authorities believe that the alternatives and competition would have been too severely impaired. The takeover of up to 24 Real locations by Globus, on the other hand, is unproblematic according to the competition watchdog. With 47 hypermarkets in Germany, Globus only has a turnover of 4.5 billion euros. However, the Federal Cartel Office examined not only the effects of the takeovers on consumers, but also the effects on the procurement side, where the dealers and their suppliers face each other.