The Bundeskartellamt confirms media reports that on 3 December it imposed an interim injunction on EDEKA and Tengelmann to prevent them from implementing parts of the planned merger before the authority has concluded its examination proceedings.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "It is a key principle of merger control that the effects of a planned merger on competition should not be anticipated. If a merger project has to be examined, the companies have to await the competition authority's decision. Also in this case suppliers, competitors and consumers must be able to rely on the fact that EDEKA and Tengelmann will not create any facts whose effects cannot be reversed before the Bundeskartellamt's decision. The interim injunction is a precautionary measure to ensure that the status quo is maintained for the time being and the merger can be examined in an open-ended procedure. The order in no way pre-empts the competitive assessment of the merger."

Before notifying their merger project EDEKA and Tengelmann had already agreed on concrete measures on the joint purchasing and invoicing of goods, changes to some parts of the branch network, warehousing and meat processing plants and related staff measures. These measures may now not be implemented before the merger control proceedings are concluded. This applies in any case if the measures go beyond the restructuring measures usually taken by a retail company.

The interim injunction serves to maintain the independence and competitive potential of Kaiser's Tengelmann and is limited to the duration of the merger control proceedings.

The parties can appeal the interim injunction within one month to the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.