Brussels, 29/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission authorised the French distribution group Carrefour, and the Greek, Marinopoulos, to create a joint venture notably gathering the hypermarket chains Carrefour Hellas, Continent Hellas, Hypermarinopoulos and Niki.
The merger between the French Groups Carrefour and Promodes, authorised by the Commission in January, placed under the same roof the supermarkets Continent and Carrefour in Europe, including Greece. Furthermore, Carrefour already has participants in the dominant food distribution chain Niki and Hyopermarinopoulos from the Marinopoulos group. The new joint 50/50 companies will mainly regroup the distribution activities of the two in Greece.
The European competition services felt that the operation would not change the competition situation of the partners. The Carrefour/Maniopoulos company will hold 20% of the Greek market for the mainly food distribution and does not represent more than 15% of the supply on each product. Furthermore, the distributor will be confronted by the significant competitors such as Sklaventis, Vasilopoulos and Veropoulos on the retail market characterised by a weak concentration, notes the Commission in its communiqué.