Structural commitments: The French Competition Authority clears, subject to the divestment of 9 stores, the acquisition of several hard discount stores while adopting a new approach to take into account asymmetrical competition between hard discount stores and other food retail stores (Franprix Leader Price / Aldi)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. The acquisition of the 554 Leader Price stores and 2 Casino stores by Aldi [the "Operation"] was first notified to the European Commission before being referred, at the request of the notifying party, to the Competition Authority ([the "Authority"] on 4 June 2020. Context elements In view of the geographical dimension of the downstream food distribution markets, which are defined as sometimes very small catchment areas (300 metres radius for the smallest food shops located in Paris), the significant overlaps between the parties' activities, and the Authority's extensive decision-making practice in the food distribution sector, the referral decision is not