REWE/ADEG deal may face EU regulatory hurdle

Austria's largest supermarket group REWE (Billa, Merkur, Penny) has announced that it wants to increase its interest in fourth-largest supermarket chain ADEG from 24.9 to 75 per cent.

 The experts also recall the competition
authority's refusal to allow REWE to purchase 341 Meinl supermarkets
around ten years ago. The authority approved REWE's acquisition of
only 162 of them on the grounds that the purchase of more would have
resulted in excessive concentration in Austria's food market.

REWE has 1,900 stores and 32,100
employees in Austria and had turnover of 5.3 billion Euros in 2007.