Premerger clearance not granted; grocery stores in concentrated market
75 F.T.C. 1122 · May 2, 1969 · Digest No. 344
source volume section (75 F.T.C. 1122)
Text is machine-OCR of the printed volume and may contain errors. Advisory opinions are the Commission's views on proposed conduct, not binding orders.
No. 344. Premerger clearance not granted; grocery stores in concentrated market.
The Commission advised an applicant for an advisory opinion that it cannot grant clearance for a proposed merger of two grocery retailing corporations operating in the same metropolitan marketing area.
ADVISORY OPINION DIGESTS 1123 Applicant is the owner of three supermarkets having 1.5 percent share of the particular market. The proposed purchaser is a regional supermarket chain having 18 percent to 20 percent of the same market with a ranking of second among all the companies selling groceries in the area. The market is concentrated with the four leading companies sharing 57 percent according to one survey and 74 percent of all sales as calculated by another analyst.
The Commission advised the applicant that it believes that the proposed merger would raise substantial questions of legality under the merger laws and that it therefore cannot grant the clearance requested. (File No. 693 7100, released May 2, 1969.)