For the purposes of assessing the above concentration and in order to thoroughly assess the prevailing competitive conditions, the relevant geographic market has been further segmented in terms of retail of supermarket goods at a local level by prefecture, in particular within a 10-to-20-minute driving distance for urban areas and up to a 30-minute  driving distance for semi-urban areas. This segmentation was carried out, in particular, for areas where there were horizontal overlaps between the acquirer and the target company, namely the prefectures of Pieria, Pella, Kozani, Rodopi, Kavala, Chalkidiki, and Imathia, in order to investigate the competitive conditions in terms of consumer demand and supply at local level.

According to the Decision, effective competition in the aforementioned local markets, inter alia, by large nationwide chains, exists, therefore eliminating the risk of any anti-competitive non-coordinated effects, while  the new entity’s market share will be below the dominance threshold in all casew. With regard to  potential coordinated local effects in the Poligiros Halkidiki area, where only two nationwide chains located within the 10-minute driving distance will remain active, effective competition from most local undertakings (e.g. groceries, vegetable stores, and butcher shops) exists, resulting in competitive pressures and alternative options for consumers in case of possible price increases. Furthermore, no price coordination by the two nationwide chains  is expected in this area as they establish their  pricing policy at a national level. Finally, it is noted that the aforementioned geographic markets defined as limited to a 10-minute driving distance, with another nationwide chain being located at a 15-minute distance away.

Therefore, the Hellenic Competition Commission unanimously approved the notified concentration pursuant to Article 8 (3) of Law 3959/2011, considering that, although falling within the scope of Article 6 (1) of Law 3959/2011, it does not raise serious concerns as to its compatibility with competition rules in the individual markets concerned thereby.