Update on the decision of the Office for Competition of 5 June, 2020 on full-function joint venture between Retail Marketing Limited and Co-op Trading Company Limited, Polrem Limited, S. Borg & Sons Limited, Tower Supermarkets Complex Limited, Valyou Pendergardens Operations Ltd., Belleview Supermarkets Co. Ltd. and Valyou Supermarket Limited (COMP/MCCAA/01/2020) 

Reference is being made to the concentration as jointly notified on 30 December, 2019, by Retail Marketing Limited, Co-op Trading Company Limited, Polrem Limited, S. Borg & Sons Limited, Tower Supermarkets Complex Limited, Valyou Pendergardens Operations Ltd., Belleview Supermarkets Co. Ltd. and Valyou Supermarket Ltd, to the Office for Competition pursuant to Regulation 5 of the Control of Concentrations Regulations (Subsidiary Legislation 379.08), and as subsequently approved and declared lawful by the Office for Competition on 5 June, 2020.

Reference is also being made to the correspondance received from the above-mentioned undertakings dated 22 September, 2020, whereby the parties are informing the Office for Competition that Polrem Limited has decided that it no longer wishes to form part of the joint venture entity and therefore shall be withdrawing as a party to the concentration.

As a result, whereas Retail Marketing Limited, Co-op Trading Company Limited, S. Borg & Sons Limited, Tower Supermarket Complex Limited, Valyou Pendergardens Operations Ltd., Belleview Supermarkets Co. Ltd. and Valyou Supermarket Limited will all remain parties to the concentration as originally notified to the Office for Competition, Polrem Limited and its ultimate beneficial owners as well as its supermarket assest and operations will not form part of the concentration. As such, Retail Marketing Limited will not be taking over the operation of Lasco Supermarket as originally notified to the Office for Competition and, accordingly, Polrem Limited and its ultimate beneficial owners will have no interest whatsover in Retail Marketing Limited and its merged operations. Polrem Limited will, therefore, continue to operate Lasco independently of other undertakings involved in this concentration as a competitor.

The Office for Competition opines that an update to the concentration decision published on 5 June, 2020 is not warranted given that the withdrawal of Polrem Limited from the concentration will not affect, in any matter the conclusions reached by the Office for Competition in relation to this concentration, and that the withdrawal of this supermarket operator from the concentration will in actual fact further alleviate any competition concerns that the Office for Competition may have had when analysing the proposed concentration.       

As a result, the withdrawal of Polrem Limited from the concentration does not alter the conclusion and the decision taken by the Office for Competition on 5 June, 2020.

Godwin Mangion

Director General