Norwegian Competition Authority gives stop notice

The Norwegian Competition Authority has today issued an advance notice that they intend to stop the cooperation agreement between ICA Norway and Norgesgruppen. ICA and Norgesgruppen now have until 25 April to submit comments. The Authority will then announce their decision.

It is only possible to appeal once the Authority has issued their decision. ICA has not yet decided whether to proceed to a higher court.

“This is a negative decision for us. The Competition Authority has now developed justification for its position and we now have time to examine their objections,” says Per Strömberg, CEO ICA Gruppen.

The background is that ICA Norway has entered into a strategic cooperation with Norgesgruppen within the areas of sourcing and logistics. The aim is to secure competitive prices and product range for ICA’s customers and achieve long-term profitability.

For more information
ICA Gruppen press service, Telephone number: +46 70 253 66 60

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 09:30 CET on Thursday, February 13, 2014.

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