June 16 (SeeNews) - Croatia's anti-trust regulator, AZTN, said on Monday it has cleared the plans of local retailer Spar Hrvatska to take over 20 stores from peer Dinova Diona located in the capital Zagreb and Zagreb county.
This concentration would have no significant effect on the local competition landscape since it will not lead to the creation of a new player on the market or to the strengthening of a dominant position of the parties involved, AZTN said in a statement.
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After the takeover, Spar Hrvatska will increase its market share in the Zagreb area to between 10% and 20%, making it the biggest competitor of local peer Konzum, which is the leader on this regional market. This will increase the competition pressure on Konzum and lower the asymmetry on the market, the statement said.
Austria's Spar entered the Croatian market in 2005. The retailer currently operates 16 INTERSPAR hypermarkets and 11 SPAR supermarkets across the country, data from its website showed.