Italy gives green light to Arcaplanet-Maxi Zoo merger under certain conditions
The companies will need to sell between 50 and 70 shops to avoid having a “dominant position” in the market.
The conclusion of the investigation from the Autorita’ Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), started in January, acknowledges that both companies “represent the first and third pet shop chain at the national level.”
“The merger in question can be authorized only in the presence of suitable measures to sterilize the competitive effects of this operation,” reads the document.
The Italian competition regulator proposes that the companies need to “eliminate the overlap between the stores of the parties in the local market” by selling part of the shops with the aim that the joint market share is less than or equal to 40%.
The deadline to complete such a sale has not been publicly disclosed.
The new buyers of these shops must be approved by the AGCM to verify that they are independent and that they are already part of the industry of the distribution of pet products.
According to tot the AGCM report, Arcaplanet represents 45-50% of the Italian pet market share and Maxi Zoo 15-20%.