Antitrust clearance: Unes can acquire the 30 Emmeci stores

The Antitrust Authority has given the green light to Unes Maxi’s acquisition of the Emmeci retail chain and the Mega property company. The Authority believes that the increase in market shares following the merger will not hinder competition in the 6 Lombardy provinces concerned.

Following the acquisition, only in 2 local markets will the combined market share exceed the threshold of 30%, but with marginal increases attributable to the target outlet, ranging between1 and 5%.
The transaction value is not known. The parties included non-compete and non-solicitation agreements in the sale and purchase contract.

Two retailers

Emmeci controls 30 outlets (Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Lecco, Monza and Sondrio) operating under the MD Discount, of which 3 are convenience stores and 27 are supermarkets with a sales area of between 400 sq m and 2.499 sq m.
The company has been operating since 1989, on the initiative of entrepreneurs Filippo Mazzoleni and Dario Corbetta who opened the first supermarket in Mapello, in the province of Bergamo.
In 2025 the company generated revenue of approximately 100 million euros.
For its part, Unes Maxi is controlled by the holding company Finiper Canova Group and has a commercial network of approximately 200 outlets, both company-owned and operated by affiliated entrepreneurs (located across Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria), under the Unes and Il viaggiator goloso brands.
In 2024 the company recorded turnover of 3,2 billion.

The super purchasing alliances

With regard to purchasing centres, the Antitrust Authority points out that there are currently “17 distribution chains operating in the large-scale retail sector, of which 10 have a combined national share of more than 3%. At present, the purchasing centre Conad+Finiper is the second-largest alliance, bringing together outlets that account for approximately 17% of total turnover in Italy”.
In this context, the target outlets “represent of the total in Italy. Given the limited weight attributable to these outlets, the transaction is not considered likely to have significant effects on the national markets for the procurement of fast-moving consumer goods”. 0,11%

This content was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.