With the acquisition of ICA and Rimi, Coop Norway is becoming Norway's second largest operator in the grocery market, surpassing Rema 1000 in terms of sales.
In October last year, it was announced that Coop Norway had agreed to take over the Swedish ICA's grocery business in Norway.
The Competition Authority has been forced to regulate the acquisition because they believe that Coop is very large and in some communities it will be too dominant. To be allowed to carry on with the takeover, the Competition Authority demanded Coop rid themselves of 93 stores. 50 of these were sold to NorgesGruppen, the country's largest chain, and another 43 to Bunnpris.
With this process completed, Coop's purchase of ICA has gone ahead. The merge will start soon, although it has yet to be clarified what concepts the various stores across the country will fall under. The options are Mega, Extra and Prix.
The price paid by Coop for the 550 stores it is taking over amounts to 2.5 billion crowns (290.55 million Euro). The head of Rema 1000, Ole Robert Reitan, expressed his dissatisfaction about Coop buying out its two competitors.
Store concepts
MEGA: Full-fledged supermarkets with counter assistants at the fresh departments. Main Competitor: Menykjeden. 70 stores.
EXTRA: Discount supermarket with unattended fresh departments. Main Competitors: Rema 1000 and Kiwi. 190 stores.
PRIX: Low prices, fixed assortment and special offers. Competitors: Rema 1000 and Kiwi. 206 stores.
Source: sb.no
