Brussels, April 10 - The European Commission said on Tuesday it had referred its review of Carrefour's plans to buy the Polish retail operation of Dutch retailer Ahold to Poland's competition authority.
"The Polish competition authority requested the Commission ... to refer the notified transaction to it because it would affect competition in a number of markets within Poland," the EU executive said in a statement.
"The Commission found that the conditions for referral are met in the present case."
It said it referred the whole case to Poland, even the review of those markets that did not seem to raise competition concerns, to keep the transaction together.
Ahold said when the deal was announced in December that the transaction with French retail company Carrefour was worth 375 million euros ($503 million). The Polish operation, Ahold Polska, has been a money loser for the Dutch firm.