Portuguese-owned supermarket chain Biedronka has received clearance from the Polish competition regulator for the acquisition of 11 MarcPol stores in the country.
It includes discount retail stores in Mazowieckie, ?ód? and Silesia.
The MarcPol deal was announced in March. Biedronka was launched by Polish entrepreneur Maruisz Switalski in 1995.
In 1997, it was purchased by Portuguese firm Jeronimo Martins. It is the largest discount chain in Poland.
In the regulator’s review, it stated that the addition of the stores to the Biedronka network would not give the retailer a dominant position. It went on to state that the deal would not significantly affect the structure of the Polish market.
Biedronka operates around 2,500 outlets in the country. In March, Biedronka said it aimed to open 300 new branches in Poland over the coming year.
CEO Tomasz Suchanski said the company planned to invest 2.1 billion zloty (€500.7 million) as part of the expansion. The investment builds on the 2013 expansion in which around 280 new branches opened in the country.
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