French watchdog probes supermarket purchasing alliances
France's competition watchdog, the Autorité de la Concurrence, is investigating several of the country's major supermarket chains over suspicion that an alliance to pool their purchasing departments, prompted by a price war notably with retail chain Leclerc, breaches competition rules.
FranceFrance's competition uuthority said Monday that it has opened an inquiry to assess the impact of a series of purchasing agreements between major retailers on consumers and suppliers, reports Market Watch.
The investigation concerns an alliance between Auchan, Casino Guichard-Perrachon, Metro and Schiever, and a separate agreement between Carrefour and Système U, the authority said.
A later alliance between Carrefour and British grocer Tesco will also be included in the inquiry, according to the Competition Authority.
The recent deals are greater in scope than a set of similar agreements reached in 2015 as they include internationally produced goods and store-brand products, rather than just local names, the regulator said.
