Good news for Kaufland: The retail chain is allowed to take over 13 Real branches, the cartel office sees no objections. However, it is questionable whether all shops will also become the property of Kaufland.
Green light for Real competitor Kaufland: The trading company that like Lidl to the Black group belongs, may take over 13 branches of the hypermarket chain. This emerges from a current overview of the Federal Cartel Office.
Accordingly, the authority sees no competition law concerns. The decision was made within eight days: Because Kaufland announced the acquisition of the Real stores on February 7th, already on February 15 there was the corresponding release of the antitrust authorities. Overall, Kaufland has the green light for 128 branches.
The following 13 branches are now involved:
- Augsburg, Reichenberger Strasse 59
- Braunschweig, Berliner Strasse 53
- Henstedt-Ulzburg, Gutenbergstr. 7
- Hermsdorf (Magdeburg), Am Elbepark 1
- Kolkwitz, Berliner Strasse 114
- Cologne, Gremberger Strasse 200
- Landsberg near Halle, Saarbrücker Str. 1
- Memmingen, Fraunhoferstr. 8th
- Moers, Hülsdonker Str. 86
- Mülheim-Kärlich, Industriestr. 4
- Pfarrkirchen, Franz-Stelzenberger-Str. 1
- Saarlouis, Carl-Zeiss-Str. 2
- Stuhr, Proppstr. 164
However, the current permit does not mean that all of the 13 Real locations will actually be transferred to the Kaufland branch network. Because: The trading company has to negotiate the exact conditions with the Real owner, the Russian financial investor SCP.
Negotiations have already been concluded for two transactions: May 9 has been set as the date for the Real branches in Cologne and Moers; Kaufland wants to have taken over by then. And the business in Pfarrkirchen was supposed to close on June 30th, but it may now be continued under the Kaufland flag.
Shops should continue as Real
The list also includes six branches that should actually remain Real: the shops in Braunschweig, Hermsdorf, Mülheim-Kärlich, Landsberg near Halle, Saarlouis and Stuhr.
It was not until the end of January that the current Real owner SCP and the Tischendorf family of entrepreneurs announced that around 60 Real branches should continue to operate under the old name even after the hypermarket chain was broken up and not be rebranded. It was about these 57 branches at the time. The negotiations between Kaufland, SCP and Tischendorf are likely to be tough.
SCP had acquired the ailing hypermarket chain Real with its around 270 stores from the retail group Metro in 2020 in order to break it up and sell it on.
Kaufland, Edeka and Globus have already secured a large number of branches. Just this week, Globus boss Jochen Baab spoke of a total of 20 shops that are to be transferred to the Saarland retail chains, writes the “Lebensmittel Zeitung”. As the newspaper further reports, the future is only uncertain for a handful of businesses.