The parts of the operation
The perfect group
The Parfait group carries out, through various companies active mainly in Martinique and Guadeloupe, automotive, food and interior decoration distribution activities. It operates three hypermarkets under the Leclerc brand in Martinique, two of which are located in Le Lamentin and the third in Fort-de-France.
La Batelière hypermarket
The target store is a hypermarket with a sales area of 2,693 m². This shop is located in Martinique and more specifically in the area of the Foyalaise plain (area corresponding to the territory of the agglomeration Schœlcher – Fort de France – Le Lamentin), in the Ozanam – La Batelière shopping center located in the commune of Schœlcher. Until 2020, the target store’s business was operated under the Géant Casino brand by the H Alimentation company, owned by the Ho Hio Hen group. It was acquired by the Parfait group on April 30, 2020, following a ruling by the mixed commercial court of Fort de France.
Given Leclerc’s withdrawal from the project to run the business, the Parfait group has plans to run this hypermarket under an independent brand, “Hypermarché La Batelière”.
The mall
The Parfait Group had also acquired in April 2020, from the Ho Hio Hen Group, the walls of the shopping center in which the business operates.
The Autorité has identified risks of prejudice to competition in the market for the retail distribution mainly of foodstuffs
The parties to the transaction are mainly present in the predominantly food retail market. Furthermore, the parties are also present in the upstream market for the supply of predominantly food products as well as in the real estate asset management market.
At the end of its competitive analysis, the Authority has identified risks of significant prejudice to competition on the retail distribution markets and more particularly on the market for the supply of hypermarkets in the Foyalaise plain. Following the transaction, the Parfait group will in fact hold a significant market share in this area, exceeding 60%, in the hypermarket supply market. Furthermore, the operation will lead to the disappearance of an operator, which will thus lead to the creation of a duopolistic supply structure at the level of hypermarkets on the Foyalaise plain. Consequently, the Autorité de la concurrence considered that the operation entailed risks of price increases and reduction of the diversity of the offer.
To remedy the competitive risks identified by the Autorité, the Parfait group filed a series of commitments
The Parfait group undertakes above all to sell the activity of the target hypermarket to a purchaser who will be approved by the Competition and Market Authority.
Furthermore, given that the Parfait group acquired both the corporate assets of the La Batelière hypermarket and the properties of the shopping center in which it is located, the mere sale of the target corporate assets would not have failed to restore sufficient competition on the markets concerned . Indeed, the purchaser would have been a lessee of the Parfait group, its competitor.
This new scheme could have created a risk of exchange of sensitive information between the Parfait group and the buyer. It would also have created the risk that the Parfait group could interfere in the management of the shopping center to the detriment of the buyer.
To resolve this difficulty, the Parfait group accompanies the commitment to sell the target hypermarket business with a set of guarantees relating to the commercial lease contract which will be stipulated between the Parfait group and the purchaser of the company.
The Parfait group also undertakes to amend the articles of association of the company that owns the real estate assets of the shopping center so that the control of the direction and management of the company and its real estate assets is entrusted to an entity independent of the group. Perfect.
The full text of the decision will be published shortly on the Authority’s website.
