EU Newssheet Tuesday 29 September 1998

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 29 September 1998
• Date: 29 September 1998
• Court: Unspecified Court

Abstract:

Competition - food retail - merger - investigation.

1 The European Commission has decided to open a detailed investigation, under the Merger Regulation, into the envisaged acquisition of the Julius Meinl AG, an Austrian food retailer, by Rewe, a big German food wholesale and retail group. The Commission's initial investigation has shown that the proposed acquisition raises several concerns, in particular resulting from the high combined market shares, the parties' strong presence on the food retail market in Eastern Austria and the significantly increased purchasing power of the Rewe group in Austria.

2 Commission Press Release of 29 September 1998, IP/98/838.

3 Competition - retail - merger - clearance.

4 The European Commission has approved the merger between La Rinascente S.p.A. and Colmark S.p.A. The concentration will effect the retail distribution of daily consumer goods in Northern Italy. Given the parties' position on the market and the presence of important competitors, the concentration would not cause serious concerns for competition.

5 Commission Press Release of 29 September 1998, IP/98/839.

6 Competition - poultry meat sector - merger - clearance.

7 The European Commission has authorised a merger in the poultry meat sector between the Dutch undertakings Cebeco Handelsraad U.A. and Plukon Beheer B.V.. The operation does not give rise to competitive concerns, given that there is only a marginal overlap between the activities of the parties. Cebeco only has a marginal market share for poultry meat in the Netherlands and does not sell such products in other Member States. Plukon, in spite of being market leader for fresh and deep-frozen poultry meat in the Netherlands, faces competition from a number of significant players.

8 Commission Press Release of 29 September 1998, IP/98/840.

9 Competition - pharmaceuticals - merger - clearance.

10 The European Commission has authorised the merger between American Home Products Corporation (AHP) and Monsanto Company (Monsanto), both active world-wide in two main businesses: pharmaceuticals and agricultural products. The clearance follows undertakings given by the parties in the field of the oral contraceptives market in France, where the Commission had identified a competition problem. Monsanto gave the undertaking to remedy this problem by terminating its distribution agreements in France with Organon (Akzo Nobel). With the termination of the distribution agreements between Monsanto and Akzo Nobel, the main competitor of the parties,...