REWE can take over 15 “Mein Real” stores

The Bundeskartellamt has today cleared REWE’s plans to acquire 15 grocery stores operated under the “Mein Real” brand.

The stores are located in Böblingen, Coesfeld, Ettlingen, Erfurt, Euskirchen, Gosen-Neu Zittau, Hagen, Hohe Börde, Ingelheim, Karlsruhe, Mülheim-Kärlich, Salzgitter, Schwentinental, Übach-Palenberg and Wernigerode (see list of stores below).

Whether REWE will actually acquire the stores after the authority’s clearance decision still depends on a number of factors, for example on whether REWE and the current lessors can come to an agreement.

The 15 stores are part of the around 60 remaining “Mein Real” stores operated by Real GmbH, which is controlled by the investment company SCP. Since the end of September 2023, Real GmbH has been under debtor-in-possession management within the framework of insolvency proceedings initiated due to economic problems.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The takeover of the 15 ‘Mein Real’ stores by REWE does not raise competition concerns in any of the market areas affected. We want to make sure that there is a sufficient number of different food retailers between which consumers can choose when they shop locally. We took this into account in our clearance decision. The takeover process can be continued by the companies as they are looking for ways to find viable prospects for the affected stores in this difficult situation. Although comprehensive investigations were required, we already cleared the project very quickly in the first phase of merger control.”

In a number of previous proceedings the authority had thoroughly examined takeovers of stores that at the time were still operated under the “Real” brand. The takeover of Real stores by Kaufland in December 2020 and by EDEKA in March 2021 were cleared subject to conditions. The authority cleared the takeover by Globus without conditions (see press release of 22 December 2020 and press release of 17 March 2021). Based on the market knowledge gained in particular from these proceedings, the in-depth examination of the present case could be quickly concluded.

The fact that “Mein Real” already cooperates with REWE in the procurement of goods also had to be taken into consideration. After an intensive examination the Bundeskartellamt had decided not to initiate a proceeding against the purchasing cooperation (see press release of 13 April 2022).

The Rewe group is active in the wholesale and retail sectors, in particular food wholesale and retail, in Germany and other European countries. The group also operates specialist outlets and production facilities and is active in the tourism sector. In 2022 REWE’s turnover amounted to 51 billion euros in Germany and 77 billion euros in Europe.

List of stores – Planned acquisition of 15 “Mein Real” stores by REWE