1st February 2016: Autorité de la Concurrence authorises the merger between the Charentes Alliance and Coréa cooperatives
On December 23rd 2015, the Charentes Alliance and Coréa cooperatives notified the Autorité that their organisations were planning to merge. Having undertaken a detailed analysis of the local markets involved, the Autorité clears this operation.
Both cooperatives are actively involved in retail markets for agricultural supply products used in polyculture farming and vineyards, in the collection and commercialization of cereals markets, protein crops and oil-producing plants markets, the animal feed market and in the seeds market. They operate mainly in the French départements of Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres, Vienne and Haute-Vienne.
Local analysis of the merger’s effects
The Autorité found that the merger operation was unlikely to have any horizontal effects on the relevant markets. In each of the local areas analysed, the Autorité noted the presence of a number of other competitors capable of exercising significant competitive pressure. The Autorité has also observed that farmers who are members of the cooperative are not bound by any constraints in terms of their purchasing or collection policies by the statutes or internal regulations of the new cooperative, and may therefore approach other local competitors should they so wish.
> The full text of Decision 16-DCC-13 concerning the merger of the Charentes Alliance and Coréa cooperatives will shortly be available for consultation on the website of the Autorité de la Concurrence.
> Press Contact: Aurore GIOVANNINI / Tel.: +33(0)1 55 04 01 81 / Email