Santiago, Jan. 31 - Chile's anti-monopoly tribunal has ruled against a merger of two of the nation's top retailers, denying the creation of a company worth some $15 billion that would have become Latin America's second-largest retail group.
The ruling puts the brakes on an all-stock merger deal between Falabella, Chile's leading department store chain, and the country's biggest supermarket chain, D&S .
The decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court, but stock in both companies tumbled on the news that came as a surprise to Chile's booming and rapidly expanding retail sector.
"This is pretty negative. The market was expecting this to be approved. It's a very pessimistic resolution," said Lorena Pizarro, chief of analysis with the Alfa brokerage in Santiago. "It was a pretty strong ruling."
Stock in Falabella was down 7.31 percent to 2,501 pesos per share and D&S shares tumbled nearly 20 percent after the ruling to 223 pesos per share.
The D&S-Falabella merger was to form a company to be majority-owned by Falabella.
"This tribunal has resolved not to approve the operation as it is not compatible with free competition," the tribunal said in a resolution on Thursday to which Reuters had access.
The tribunal also said in its ruling that the Falabella-D&S merger would not have left room for other competitors to enter the Chilean market.
"An approval of the operation in question would produce a substantial and enduring reduction in competitive conditions in a market of significant importance to all Chilean consumers," the competition tribunal said.
The ruling comes at a time when Chilean retailers are seeking new avenues to expand, with many of them setting their sights on the rest of the region for growth opportunities.