Edeka acquires Handelshof

Author: Thomas Wandler
Date: 04.07.2019

Cartel Office grants approval

The German Federal Cartel Office has approved the acquisition of Handelshof by Edeka. The retail group will then operate the 16 cash & carry wholesale stores of Handelshof in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

As part of the takeover, Edeka acquires 100 percent of the limited partner’s shares and has sole control of the group. During the merger review, Edeka’s strong market position led to an analysis of its sales and procurement markets. However, no competitive problem could be identified in any of the regional wholesale markets.

“Our investigations have shown, that the Handelshof Group’s share of the nationwide procurement volume, at significantly less than 0.5 percent, was ultimately so low that the growth at EDEKA resulting from the takeover has no significant competitive effects,” said Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office, when explaining the approval.

Sales of the Handelshof Group amounted to around 640 million euro in 2018. Edeka, on the other hand, generated 53.7 billion euros in 2018 in Germany alone.