Report • 10.11.2015
Norma shows interest in Tengelmann
Discounter offers talks about the acquisition of stores
The subject has been moving the retail sector in Germany for months already. And now – just around two weeks before the public hearing on the acquisition of Kaiser's Tengelmann by Edeka - the food discounter Norma has also expressed interest in the acquisition of individual Kaiser's Tengelmann stores.
According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung Norma has already approached Tengelmann CEO Karl-Erivan Haub "several times" to talk about the subject. But Tengelmann did not answer to even one of the offers.
Decision of the cartel office falls on 16 November
The German federal cartel office (“Bundeskartellamt”) has prohibited the acquisition of 450 Kaiser's Tengelmann branches by Edeka in April this year, giving the reason that the merger would create a threat to the competition on local markets. The two companies claimed a ministerial permit by Federal Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel a short time after this first decision. The decision for or against such a ministerial permit will probably be made no earlier than the end of November. Both Edeka and Tengelmann repeatedly emphasized that a large proportion of the 16,000 jobs in the Tengelmann stores could be secured only through a takeover of all branches in question.
Tengelmann remains silent about new offers
Tengelmann has already ignored several talking offers by interested bidders. The company spokeswoman of Norma told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that "For us it is incomprehensible that a completely harmless competitor is given no chance to present his ideas."
Even the offer of competitors Rewe has never been officially confirmed by Tengelmann. Instead, CEO Haub has associated the offer with a confidentiality agreement. Several lawyers have called this against the law. So the further development remains to be seen. In the meantime 13 other parties have applied for visiting the public hearing on November 16th, aside from the two applicants. Among those parties is Norma, as well as the competitors Rewe, Kaufland and Coop.
Author: Daniel Stöter, iXtenso.com
channels: consulting
