AGCM, the Italian competition authority, has released its decision concerning the merger of Arcaplanet and Maxi Zoo. Lately, the authority generally agreed to the merger but now published the underlying conditions: the new Arcaplanet Group needs to give up 70 stores to third parties preventing the disortion of competition in the pet supplies industry. The stores in question are located mainly in northern Italy.
On its website, Fressnapf had already announced the authority’s permission couple of days ago few days ago, not disclosing any conditions.
Fressnapf, the third biggest leader in Italian pet supplies industry with Maxi Zoo, and Cinven, who is the majority shareholder of Arcaplanet, arranged to form a joint venture last June. According to the agreement, Cinven should get a holding of between 60 and 65 per cent while Fressnapf would get the remaining 30 and 35 per cent. In November, the authority preliminary forbid the merger on the grounds that the new group would have a share in the market of 60 to 65 per cent. This would have been a “significant obstacle to competition in retail outlets for pet products”.
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