Coop Nederland UA (Coop) has announced that its members have approved the proposed merger with Plus by an overwhelming majority.
The approval of the Plus General Assembly, which took place at the same time, is an important step towards the completion of the merger, Coop added.
Previously, the works councils (OR) of both companies gave positive advice on the proposed merger.
The deal, expected to close in early 2022, is subject to approval by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM).
In the coming years, Coop stores will be converted to the Plus format and the integration will be completed.
'An Important Milestone'
Fred Bosch, managing director of Coop Netherlands, said, ”With this agreement, we have achieved an important milestone in the merger process. We are pleased that the members of both cooperatives share our enthusiasm for joining forces.
"We thus form the new joint cooperative, in which passionate entrepreneurship and active involvement of consumers is guaranteed. By merging we will achieve more clout, so that we can serve our customers even better in the future."
In early September, the cooperatives announced that they are to join forces to form the third-largest grocery chain in the Netherlands.
The merger will create a nationwide network of about 550 stores operating under the Plus banner, with sales worth approximately €5 billion.
The combined group will employ more than 40,000 people and serve more than 4.5 million customers each week.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Dayeeta Das. For more Retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
