The Autorité de la concurrence clears, subject to the divestiture of 2 stores, the acquisition by the Carrefour group of 25 food retail stores formerly operated under the Casino group banner
As part of its analysis of the takeover of the former Casino stores by the Intermarché, Carrefour and Auchan groups and following the recent decision on the acqusition of 200 stores by the Intermarché group1, the Autorité has now analysed the acquisition by the Carrefour group of another 25 stores.
On 7 March 2024, Carrefour notified the Autorité of its plan to acquire 25 food retail stores operated under the Casino group banner.
To take account of the stores’ difficult economic situations, the Autorité granted the Carrefour group, at its request, a derogation from the suspensive effect of merger control2. In accordance with the applicable rules, this derogation, which enabled Carrefour to complete the transaction without waiting for the Autorité to issue its decision, was without prejudice to the final decision to be taken by the Autorité, which, at the end of its investigation and competitive analysis, could call into question certain acquisitions by considering that remedies were necessary in areas where there would be insufficient competition for consumers after the transaction.
After examining the transaction, the Autorité has cleared Carrefour to acquire control of the stores in question, subject to divesting two stores to competing banners in order to ensure that consumers have access to sufficient alternatives and can benefit from competition when buying mass-market products.
[1] Autorité decision 24-DCC-255 of 28 November 2024.
[2] Derogation granted under Article L. 430-4 of the French Commercial Code (Code de commerce) by letter dated 19 March 2024.