Norwegian Competition Authority extends review of cooperation agreement
The Norwegian Competition Authority announced today that they are extending their review of the agreement between ICA Norway and Norgesgruppen on joint sourcing and distribution. The reason for the extended review is the plans for joint purchasing cooperation announced last week by COOP Norway and Rema 1000.
The Competition Authority has informed ICA that the review is expected to be completed no later than the end of February 2014. At present the Authority has suspended the cooperation until 10 January and will inform ICA whether the suspension will also be extended.
ICA Norway and Norgesgruppen continue to have a dialogue with the Norwegian Competition Authority.
In January 2013 ICA Norway entered into a strategic cooperation with Norgesgruppen within the areas of sourcing and logistics. The aim is to secure competitive prices and create conditions for long-term profitability in the Norwegian business. Last spring, the Norwegian Competition Authority began a review of the cooperation and suspended the cooperation for the duration of the review.
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ICA Gruppen AB discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 4.00 pm CET on Friday, 16 December 2013.
ICA Gruppen AB (publ) is one of the Nordic region’s leading retail companies, with around 2,400 of its own and retailer-owned stores in Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Group includes the retail companies ICA Sweden, ICA Norway and Rimi Baltic, ICA Real Estate, which owns and manages properties and ICA Bank, which offers financial services to Swedish customers. The Group also includes the wholly owned portfolio companies Forma Publishing Group and inkClub and partly owned portfolio companies Cervera, Hemtex and Kjell & Company. For more information see www.icagruppen.se