The Autorité de la concurrence clears, subject to conditions, the acquisition by Carrefour of the French operations of the Louis Delhaize group (Cora and Match stores)

On 25 October 2023, the European Commission decided to refer the examination of the acquisition, by the Carrefour group of the French operations of the Louis Delhaize group, i.e. 186 stores and all property assets, to the Autorité de la concurrence, due to its “specific expertise” in the sector. Indeed, the Autorité has examined numerous transactions – both in the past^[1] or currently^[2] – in the food retail sector.

Accordingly, the Carrefour group notified the Autorité of its planned acquisition on 3 June 2024. At its request, the Autorité granted Carrefour a derogation from the suspensive effect of merger control, which enabled the group to complete the transaction without waiting for the Autorité to issue its decision and thus to change the banners of the stores. The derogation was without prejudice to the final decision to be taken by the Autorité, which has been issued today.

After examing the transaction, the Autorité has cleared the Carrefour group to acquire control of the French operations of the Louis Delhaize group, subject to divesting seven stores to competing banners and terminating a franchise agreement in favour of a competiting banner, in order to ensure that consumers have access to sufficient alternatives and can benefit from competition when buying everyday consumer goods. The transaction is also subject to the divestiture of a shopping centre adjoining one to the stores to be divested.

^[1] Decision 24-DCC-255 of 28 November 2024 on the acquisition of full control of 200 stores formerly operated under the Casino banner by ITM Entreprises and Decision 24-DCC-288 of 13 December 2024 on the acquisition of full control of 25 stores formerly operated under the Casino banner by Carrefour.

^[2] Sale of 98 stores formerly operated under the Casino banner to the Auchan group, currently under examination.