Seminar_Betænkeligheder ved kapitalfondes opkøb af butikskæder: Tilfældet Matas_Niels Blomgren-Hansen

Title:Konkurrencemyndighedernes betænkeligheder ved kapitalfondes opkøb af butikskæder: Tilfældet MATAS.

Abstract:

Why should the acquisition of retail chains by capital funds worry com-

petition authorities: The Matas case.

According to the Competition Act, a merger that does not impede ef-

fective competition signi.cantly, in particular by creating or strengthening

a dominant position, shall be prohibited. To decide whether this is the

case the authorities need a quanti.able model of the relationship between

the variables that are directly a¤ected by a merger and some measure of

competition. The information required must be readily available.

In this paper we set up and calibrate a simple model of the interaction

of the retail and the wholesale markets for high-end cosmetics in Denmark.

The model predicts that the Matas-merger - comprising roughly half

of the market - is likely to have a signi.cant e¤ect on retail prices and

that the authorities had good reasons for making its approval conditioned

on the removal of a number of contract-based barriers to entry.

The analysis indicates that the impact of the merger is highly de-

pendent on the possible creation or strenghtening of a dominant position

vis-à-vis the upstream market. A power based quantity discount may

result in a decrease or an increase in the retail prices depending on the

speci.c design of the sheme. Retail price maintenance may benefit or

harm merged and independent retailers alike depending on the wholesale

dealers. price reaction. The analysis suggests that the competition au-

thorities should emphasize more strongly the interaction of upstream and

downstram markets in considering merger cases.