The Swedish Competition Authority approved Axfood’s acquisition of Bergendahl’s wholesale and a minority share of City Gross food retail after a Phase II review and voluntary committments. Axfood is Swedens second largest food wholeseller and third food retailer with brands such as Hemköp, Willys and Tempo. The merger will create substantial scale economies and create a stronger number two in the Swedish food retail market.
The Swedish Competition Authority had concerns regarding independent retailers that are not part of any integrated supply chain and that have previously been buying from either of the parties.
The Swedish Competition Authority ultimately cleared the transaction subject to a commitment by the parties to offer equal or better terms to the independent retailers and to offer non-discriminatory terms to new innovative online retailers up until 1 Jan 2030.
RBB Economics assisted Axfood in the context of this merger investigation alongside Kastell law firm. RBB submitted both a detailed local market analysis of the retail markets and a quantitative simulation-model that assessed the joint effects of the merger to both the wholesale and retail markets.
The SCA decision can be found here.
