1999/674/EC: Commission Decision of 3 February 1999 relating to proceedings under Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (Case No IV/M.1221 - Rewe/Meinl) [notified under document number C(1999) 228] (Text with EEA relevance) (Only the German text is authentic)

Article 1

The notified operation whereby Rewe Internationale Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH and REWE-Verkaufsgesellschaft mbH are to acquire sole control over the entire share capital of Meinl is, on condition that the undertaking offered by the parties and reproduced in recital 118 of this Decision is carried out, hereby declared compatible with the common market and with the functioning of the EEA Agreement.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to:
REWE Internationale Beteiligungsgesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung Domstrasse 20 D - 50668 Köln
REWE-Verkaufsgesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung Domstrasse 20 D - 50668 Köln
Done at Brussels, 3 February 1999.
For the Commission
Karel VAN MIERT
Member of the Commission
(1) OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 1; corrigendum, OJ L 257, 21.9.1990, p. 13.
(2) OJ L 180, 9.7.1997, p. 1.
(3) OJ C 306, 23.10.1999.
(4) Parts of this text have been edited to ensure that confidential information is not disclosed, those parts are enclosed in square brackets and marked with an asterisk.
(5) The turnovers were calculated in accordance with Article 5(1) of the Merger Control Regulation and with the Commission notice on calculation of turnover (OJ C 66, 2.3.1998, p. 25). Where turnover figures for the period before 1 January 1999 are mentioned, they were calculated on the basis of the average ECU exchange rates and converted into ecus on a one-for-one basis.
(6) For example IV/M.803 - Rewe/Billa (OJ C 306, 15.10.1996, p. 4); IV/M.1071 - Spar/Pro (OJ C 49, 14.2.1998, p. 13).
(7) For example Decision 97/277/EG - Kesko/Tuko (OJ L 110, 26.4.1997, p. 53, paragraphs 18 et seq. of the recitals); Rewe/Billa and Spar/Pro, see footnote 5; IV/M.1303 - Adeg/Edeka, (OJ C 385, 11.12.1998, p. 5).
(8) See Footnote 6, Kesko/Tuko, paragraphs 24 et seq. of the recitals.
(9) IV/M.179 - Spar/Dansk Supermarked (OJ C 29, 6.2.1992, p. 18).
(10) Rewe/Billa, see footnote 5.
(11) See AC Nielsen, Statistical yearbook 1998 Austria, p. 37.
(12) Meinl is by far the largest member of ZEV, accounting for some two thirds of ZEV's procurement volume.
(13) See AC Nielsen, Statistical yearbook1998 Austria, p. 46.
(14) See market survey, Der Lebensmittelhandel in Österreich1998, RegioPlan Consulting, p. 90.
(15) See market survey, Der Lebensmittelhandel in Österreich1998, RegioPlan Consulting, p. 49.
(16) OJ L 186, 21.7.1994, p. 38, paragraphs 70 et seq. of the recitals.
(17) Judgment of the Court of Justice in Joined Cases C-68/94 and C-30/95 French Republic and Others v Commission [1998 ECR I-1375.
(18) See footnote 15.
(19) See, for example, The welfare consequences of the exercise of buyer power, study by Paul Dobson, Michael Waterson and Alex Chu for the Office of Fair Trading, September 1998, p. 17 et seq.
(20) There are a number of exceptions, including very minor product categories without much importance in Austria, e.g. fish.
(21) The product categories mentioned here do not correspond fully to the product categories set out above.
(22) See footnote 5.
(23) See Decision 92/227/EC, footnote 6, recital 37.
(24) Cash Almanach für Handel, Gewerbe und Industrie '98, published by the trade magazine Cash, Manstein Zeitschriften Verlagsges.m.b.H, Perchtoldsdorf.
(25) In the case of bread/pastries, small producers producing products exclusively or almost exclusively for sale in their own bakeries or as local suppliers to the food-retailing trade are not included.
(26) Including both Austrian firms and Austrian establishments of international firms. Producers from other European countries were also surveyed.
(27) Source: market survey, Der Lebensmittelhandel in Österreich 1998, RegioPlan Consulting, pp. 24 et seq.
(28) See the interim report by Dobson Consulting for the study, Buyer power and its impact on competition in the food-retailing distribution sector of the European Union, p. 27.
(29) OECD background paper "Round table on buying power", 1998, pp. 9 et seq.
(30) OECD background paper, pp. 11 et seq.
(31) Namely small producers of fresh produce who deliver only locally in western Austria, firms which have opted for supplying Hofer, and a few firms which supply products mainly through sales channels other than the food-retailing trade.
(32) See OECD background paper, p. 13.
(33) As many as 370 according to other sources.
(34) Nielsen's countrywide estimate.

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