The EU Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether two French groups of retailers, Casino Guichard-Perrachon and Les Mousquetaires, have coordinated their conduct in the market, in breach of EU competition rules.
The European Commission on 4th November opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether two French groups of retailers, Casino Guichard-Perrachon and Les Mousquetaires, have coordinated their conduct in the market, in breach of EU competition rules.
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said “Buying alliances between retailers have become a key component of grocery supply chains. They can bring lower prices to consumers for food and personal care brands that they purchase on a daily basis. Such benefits can however disappear quickly if retailers use these alliances to collude on their sales activities.”
The Commission will therefore investigate if Casino and Intermarché have coordinated their activities in an anticompetitive way, she said.
Casino and Intermarché are two of the largest chains of groceries retail shops active in France.
In November 2014, they set up a joint venture for the joint procurement alliance of their branded products, INCA.
