Cartel Office Okays Supermarket Takeover

Germany's Federal Cartel Office has given the green light to the Edeka grocery store chain to take over the Spar grocery chain in Germany and the Netto Süd discount grocer. The cartel office approved the merger without imposing any conditions. The Edeka chain has a market share of around 20 percent of Germany's grocery sector. It is interested in expansion in order to enter the highly competitive, and successful, discounter market and compete with the Germany's discounter giants, Aldi and Lidl. The purchase of Spar, which until now belonged to the French ITM Group, will result in large numbers of layoffs.