Norwegian Competition Authority extends suspension of cooperation with NorgesGruppen
The Norwegian Competition Authority today notified that it is continuing to review the agreement between ICA Norway and NorgesGruppen on joint sourcing and distribution. At the same time, the enforced suspension of the cooperation is being extended until 10 January 2014. ICA Norway and NorgesGruppen can continue to implement their cooperation on sourcing in accordance with the earlier decision by the Norwegian Ministry of Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs.
ICA Norway and NorgesGruppen will now continue their dialogue with the Norwegian Competition Authority.
In January 2013 ICA Norway entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with NorgesGruppen in the areas of sourcing and logistics. The aim was to secure competitive prices and achieve long-term profitability in the Norwegian business. This spring the Norwegian Competition Authority began a review of the cooperation and suspended the cooperation for the duration of the review. In July 2013 the Norwegian Ministry of Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs allowed the sourcing element of the agreement to commence while the Competition Authority’s review is in progress.
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ICA Gruppen 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 1.10 pm CET on Thursday, 15 August 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 and inkClub and partly owned portfolio companies Cervera, Hemtex and Kjell & Company. For more information see www.icagruppen.se