Bratislava, Jan. 5 - The Division of Concentrations of the Antimonopoly Office of the SR issued on December 29, 2006 decision, by which it prohibited concentration of the entrepreneurs Tesco and Carrefour. It was horizontal concentration of competing companies.
The concentration was grounded in acquisition of indirect control by the entrepreneur Tesco over the enterprise of the entrepreneur Carrefour on a basis of Contract on Purchase and Sale of Stocks.
Considering facts that the Office identified competition risk and also that conditions and obligations proposed by the entrepreneur Tesco have not solved and have not been eligible to eliminate competition problems identified by the Office, the Office in the meaning of the Act on Protection of Competition prohibited this concentration, because change of the market structure would be against consumers.
In concentration cases when the Office identifies the competition problem and negotiates on conditions an administrative proceedings lasts usually longer. In this case, concerning the time period for issuing decision, the Office states that the company Tesco has exhausted above 40% of all time period necessary for issuing the subjected decision.
This decision has not come to force and it is possible to submit an appeal against it within 15 days from the day of delivery.