Polish retailer Eurocash has said that its planned takeover of the Mila supermarket business has now entered the second phase of Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) approval.
The group said that the UOKiK’s decision to move the acquisition to a second phase is ‘in line with Eurocash Group’s expectations and is a standard action in this type of case’.
The UOKiK’s decision means that it will now conduct analysis of the the local markets in over a dozen towns around Poland where Mila stores and Eurocash Group-affiliated stores (Delikatesy Centrum and/or Eko) are both present, ahead of making its final decision.
Strategic Move
‘The purchase of Mila is part of the strategy of building by Eurocash Group a nationwide supermarket chain based both on cooperation with franchise partners and running own stores in order to support chain development in new regions of the country,’ said in a statement.
‘The strategic goal of the Eurocash Group is to consistently improve the competitiveness of Polish independent retail stores, which are the Group's main customers.’
Eurocash announced its decision to take over Mila, which operates a network of 188 supermarkets, located mainly in central Poland, in September.
Earlier this week, Eurocash said that its consolidated net sales for Q3 2017 stood at PLN 6.2 billion (€1.47 billion), which is a 7% increase on the same period last year.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
