On April 18, 2022,the Hellenic Competition Commission (“HCC”) unanimously approved Delivery Hero’s acquisition of sole control over companies (a) Alfa Distributions SA, (b) Inkat SA, (c) Delivery.gr Single Member P.C. and (d) E-table Online Restaurant Reservations Single Member P.C.(“E-table Single Member P.C.”) subject to commitments offered by Delivery Hero.
In Greece, Delivery Hero operates the online delivery platform e-food, through which consumers connect with restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores and other local stores as well as the online convenience store e-food market.
Alfa Distributions SA is active in the wholesale supply of consumer goods to supermarkets. Inkat SA is active in the wholesale supply of groceries and operates the retail grocery store chain Kiosky's. Delivery.grSingle Member P.C.operates the online platform delivery.gr, which provides online intermediation services (ordering) forrestaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores and other local stores. E-table Single Member P.C. provides online intermediation services for reservations in restaurants, through the e-table platform.
The HCC’s decision follows an in-depth investigation of the proposed merger between Delivery Hero and the target companies.
The HCC’s investigation revealed that the combination of the parties’ activities in the market for online intermediation for restaurant reservations through the target’s e-table platform and in the online intermediation market for food ordering, through Delivery Hero’s online platform e-food, would give rise to conglomerate effects. Both platforms have significant market power in the respective markets in Greece. As a result of the transaction, the merged entity would have both the ability and the incentive to bundle the two services vis-à-vis their business users, thereby reducing the ability or incentive of e-table’s competitors to compete effectively on the market for online restaurant reservation services.
The HCC was also concerned that the combination of end-user data collected from e-food and e-table would allow the merged entity to implement personalized promotion strategies, thereby giving it a competitive advantage to such a degree thatthe combined entity’s competitors would no longer be able to compete effectively.
To address the HCC’s concerns, Delivery Hero has offeredthe following commitments:
The duration of the commitments is two (2) years from the date of the acquisition of control over E-TableSingle Member P.C..The HCC may decide to extend the duration of the commitments by one year depending on the evolution of the market dynamics.
Finally, following the transaction, the combined entity’s e-food and delivery.gr platforms will have a high combined market share on the market for online intermediation for the sale of groceries. However, given the bargaining power of other supermarkets, it is estimated that the merged entity will not be able to substantially restrict competition on the market, compared with the pre-merger situation.