Neither the Dutch-Belgium retailer Ahold Delhaize nor the company it will take over from PE fund Mid Europa (Profi) notified the European competition body about the deal already officially announced, although it is expected to result in a major consolidation in the country’s retail market, Ziarul Financiar announced.

The local competition body has not commented, but it reportedly was not notified and is not supposed to be notified before the European competition body.

Ahold Delhaize can take over the Profi retail chain without permits from the competition body but will not be entitled to operate it, Ziarul Financiar comments. EY has served as a consultant in the deal for Ahold Delhaize.

According to European regulations, the European Commission must be notified and approve transactions between companies that each have a turnover of more than EUR 250 million in the whole group or if the cumulative turnover of the two companies is higher than EUR 5 billion at the European level.

In Romania alone, Ahold’s Mega Image retail chain reported a EUR 1.7 billion turnover in 2022, while Profi ended the year with a EUR 2.3 billion turnover. At the group level, Ahold Delhaize’s turnover exceeds EUR 30 billion.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Profi)