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The Competition Authority has expressed “very serious doubts about the competition in the catchment area of these three large stores”.
The Intermarché distribution group announced on Wednesday that it was forced to resell three of the 61 stores purchased from Casino this fall, at the request of the Competition Authority. This concerns the hypermarkets of Vals-près-le-Puy (Haute-Loire) and Lons-le-Saunier (Jura), as well as the supermarket of Plouaret (Côtes-d’Armor), management told AFP. of the Les Mousquetaires Group.
The latter acquired these stores in October as part of the sale of Casino group assets. Contacted by AFP, the Competition Authority (ADLC) indicated that it could not comment on this “file still under investigation within (its) concentrations department” And “for which a decision could be made in January“. “The Competition Authority has expressed very serious doubts about the competition in the catchment area of these three large stores. We are waiting to receive written notification of this decision in January, which we regret for the members concerned and their employees, but we will comply with this decision.“, said the Les Mousquetaires Group.
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“Unbearable for employees”
“Humanly, it is unbearable for the employees», Reacted Christophe Romeuf, CGT union delegate at the Vals-près-le-Puy hypermarket. “The oldest will therefore work there under a 4th brand, after Rallye, Casino, and Intermarché“, he added. In this hypermarket, “the 110 employees feel worried, even if there is a 99% chance that we will be bought (…) by Carrefour or Leclerc, because Auchan and Système U are already established in the Puy basin», underlined Stéphane Barriol, FO delegate.
“According to ADLC calculations, the Group’s market share would now exceed 50% by adding our turnover with that of several Intermarché supermarkets located in an area within a 30-minute drive.», Explained to AFP Rémy Valette, who manages the Vals-près-le-Puy hypermarket. Ludovic Paquet, head of the Lons-le-Saunier store, affirms that he “does not understand this decision of the Competition Authority, which causes (him) and the 75 permanent employees a mixture of disappointment and anger“. Casino committed in May to selling a total of 119 stores to the Les Mousquetaires/Intermarché group in two waves. In December, the Saint-Etienne distributor entered into “exclusive negotiations» to give in «almost all» of its large store base, i.e. 313 points of sale, at Intermarché and Auchan. In great difficulty, Casino signed an agreement in July providing for the restructuring of its debt and a change of shareholders by March-April 2024. It is the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, the Frenchman Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière and the British fund Attestor , who must take orders on this date.