BUCHAREST (Romania), November 29 (SeeNews) – Romania's anti-trust regulator said on Tuesday it conditionally approved the takeover of online IT&C retailer PC Garage Store by local online general retailer eMag.
eMag, operated by Dante International, said in April it is taking over PC Garage Store for an undisclosed price.
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"Following the analysis, the Competition Council found that the transaction leads to strengthening the market position of Dante International and thus to lowering the competitive pressure for certain categories of products. As a result, Dante International committed to ceasing the operation of four online stores active on the retail market for non-food products, namely www.pcfun.ro, www.shopit.ro, www.garagemall.ro and www.electrofun.ro," the Competition Council said in a statement.
Dante also undertook not to engage in the ceased activities for at least 10 years. The operation will be carried out as transfer without interrupting the current business, separately for each store or together, the competition regulator added.
Also, Dante will make all efforts to maintain the economic viability and competitiveness of the stores which are to be divested and will ensure the delivery of products under non-discriminatory conditions to future buyers.
PC Garage was founded in 2005 by businessman Marius Ghenea and is one of the largest online stores of IT and electronic products in Romania with over 40,000 active items and one million visitors per month. The online store ended 2015 with turnover of 165 million lei ($38.7 million/36.5 million euro), up 30% compared with the previous year.
eMag was founded in 2001 by Romanian entrepreneurs, and later expanded in Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland. Its net loss doubled to 119 million lei in 2015, while turnover jumped by 36% to 1.7 billion lei.
South Africa-based Naspers media group acquired 70% of eMag in 2012.
(1 euro = 4.5162 Romanian lei)