Takeover of 567 Leader Price stores by Aldi: the Commission refers the case to the Autorité

European in scope, the takeover transaction of 567 Leader Price stores by Aldi was in principle to be examined by the European Commission. However, the parties requested, as permitted by European Regulation No 139/2004, that it be referred to the Autorité de la concurrence, considering that the latter was better positioned to examine it.

The Commission considered that the conditions to refer the transaction to the Autorité de la concurrence were met, the Autorité de la concurrence being the best suited to study the transaction with regard notably, to the national impact of the transaction and its experience in examining merger transactions in this sector.