Communication
The aim of the protection of market competition is primarily to create benefits for consumers and equal conditions for all entrepreneurs on the market, who, acting in accordance with the existing rules and competing on the market with the quality, price and innovation of their products and services, contribute to the overall development of the economy.
Concentration cleared in the bakery products market
The Croatian Competition Agency cleared in the first phase the acquisition of joint control over the undertakings PAN-PEK Zagreb and PAN-PEK Đakovo by the undertakings FARUNO from Luxemburg and Ivan Parać, Zagreb.
FARUNO is a part of the group of undertakings controlled by the investment funds of the EI Group that, amongst other things, provides services relating to share capital investments and ownership instruments through venture capital investing in companies with a perspective of tremendous asset value creation, and is entering the relevant markets on which PAN-PEK Zagreb and PAN-PEK Đakovo are active – the bakery production and import of bakery products, the wholesale in bakery products and the retail in bakery products in the territory of the Republic of Croatia.
The undertakings PAN-PEK Zagreb and PAN-PEK Đakovo taken together are one of the most important bread producers in Croatia, whereas their assortment includes fresh, frozen and packed bakery products that are produced in Zagreb and Đakovo and distributed to final consumers in other retail chains as well as in their own specialized store network.
The bakery production and the import of bakery products market is fragmented, there are a number of competitors, while the market share of none of them exceeds 15 %. According to the 2016 data available, the highest market share is held by Mlinar d.d., followed by PAN-PEK, while the first five undertakings hold less than 30 % of the market. In this relevant market the share of the domestic production is still a prevailing source of sale, yet, the competitive constraint is present through numerous domestic and foreign producers. The competitive constraint from abroad has been getting stronger since Croatia joined the EU – in 2016 it took a share of 16 % of the total sale of bakery products. Besides, the industrial production of bread and bakery products in Croatia is showing a positive trend and the growth in this industry is expected in the future taken into account a still rather low share of the ready-to -eat and frozen bakery products and the permanent rise in the number of the retail chains.
The wholesale and the retail in bakery products both follow the logic of the bakery production and bakery imports market. The permanent expansion of the retail chains ensures the increased availability of bakery products in the same way as competition between the producers themselves does, whereas the increasing demand encourages the development of the industrial bakery production. The specialised retail stores also indicate growth, which has been particularly elaborated by the notifying party as one of the main reasons for the implementation of the proposed concentration.
After the assessment analysis of the relevant markets concerned it has been established that there would be no changes in their structure in the post-merger period.