Green Light for Auchan Hungary Acquisition, Boosting Local Ownership

The final piece of the puzzle has been put in place with the clearance of the acquisition of Auchan Hungary by the Hungarian Competition Authority. The regulatory approval means that the Hungarian subsidiary of the French grocery retailer has officially been acquired by entrepreneur Dániel Jellinek, writes Index.

All obstacles have now been removed for businessman Dániel Jellinek to acquire a stake in Auchan Hungary Kft., thereby indirectly fulfilling the Hungarian economic policy objective of increasing domestic ownership in retailing, as in the banking sector, energy and telecommunications. The final step was the approval of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH), formally granted on Tuesday, as was to be expected.

In a certificate of authority published on the GVH’s website, it is stated, “Ceetrus Hungary Kft. and NHOOD Services Hungary Kft. on the basis of Section 43/N (1) (b) of Act LVII of 1996 on the Prohibition of Unfair and Restrictive Market Practices, that no circumstances exist on the basis of the merger notification that would justify the ordering of an investigation pursuant to Section 67 (4) of the Act.”

This means in practice that the GVH has approved the merger. The decision was also endorsed by the Authority’s Competition Council.

It is worth recalling that the negotiations between Auchan Hungary and Dániel Jellinek’s group of companies dragged on for three years. On the buy side, there were long rumors that the Hungarian-American-owned Indotek Group, an investment management company, would acquire a 47% minority stake, but Biery Investments was the successful bidder among the Jellinek interests. However, this circumstance has no particular practical significance.

The length of the process, that started in September 2021, is largely due to the fact that we are living in an era of crises,

the economic environment has been significantly transformed by the pandemic and then by war, and the rules of the game have changed in the retail market.

Last November, Indotek Group announced ambitious plans to make Auchan the third largest market share player in five to six years. On current strengths, this would mean the retail chain would come in just behind Lidl and SPAR, having overtaken Penny, Aldi, CBA, Coop and even Tesco.

Commenting on his plans, Dániel Jellinek told Index that

the primary beneficiaries of the expansion will be customers, who will have access to Auchan’s reasonably priced, quality products in increasing numbers.

He also emphasized that one of the more distant plans and objectives is to use the expansion of the Auchan chain in Hungary to position domestic food and agro-industrial enterprises and companies that produce products at competitive prices, reliably and with high quality, so that they can become not only domestic but also regional suppliers.

Via Index; Featured image via Wikipedia/Lionel Allorge