Following two years of negotiations with the provincial high court of Düsseldorf, Edeka reportedly now has an alternative plan for its bid to acquire the Kaiser's Tengelmann store portfolio.
In 2014, Edeka began to initiate an agreement to buy all 451 Tengelmann stores in Germany. Germany's cartel division was against the move, but federal minister of economy Sigmar Gabriel supported Edeka's plan by giving a so-called 'ministerial permission'.
Edeka's biggest rival Rewe challenged the move and consulted the provincial high court of Düsseldorf, which laid the negotiations on ice.
Last week, German food industry journal Lebensmittel Zeitung said, that Edeka now has a 'plan B' in place for taking over as many stores as possible. Every store takeover that has not been challenged should be permitted, while for every other store, Edeka wants to negotiate with the landlords of said stores directly.
Edeka commented: "We are still hoping for a solution. Of course we are also prepared for alternative scenarios."
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Fabian Novakovics. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
