A planned joint venture between Coop eG and Rewe might now be threatened by a complaint issued by rival Edeka.
Lebensmittel Zeitung reported that the company had submitted a complaint to the high court of Düsseldorf against federal approval of such a joint venture.
The high court is set to rule on Rewe's takeover of around 200 Sky stores operated by Coop eG in four federal states of Germany.
Edeka's complaint might endanger or block the Coop deal permanently, and give leverage that could support Edeka's interests in the upcoming negotiations surrounding the allocation of Kaiser's Tengelmann stores. Rewe had previously attempted to block the takeover due to similar competition complaints.
The federal competition agency had previously demanded that Rewe give up eleven stores to rivals to satisfy competition laws.
Edeka's complaint mainly focuses on some inequalities in the handling of the Edeka/Tengelmann case and the Rewe/Coop eG fusion. The competition regulator did not apply the same parameters to both cases, according to Edeka.
© 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.
