"Delta" plans to lodge complaint to Supreme Court of Serbia due to ban on merger between "C market" and market chain "Delta Maxi"

Company "Delta" has announced that it will lodge complaint to Supreme Court of Serbia by the end of 2007 because of the ban was placed on merger with "C market" due to monopoly position in Belgrade.

General manager of retail market chain "Delta Maxi", Dragan Filipović, part of which is "C market", said that "Delta" would lodge complaint to the Supreme Court on the decision of the Commission for Protection of Competition after the completion of the analysis of share in food retail sector on the market of Serbia and represent official results of research to the public.

At the end of November, the Commission submitted resolution to "Delta" and rejected merger with "C market" for the second time due to monopoly on the market in Belgrade, but the Commission has no right to stop or fine the company for that procedure .

According to Filipović's words, "Delta" did the research earlier in order to determine its place and, according to these estimates, the value of the food market in Serbia, including drinks, tobacco and hygiene products, ranges between 4.2 and 4.5 billion EUR per year. Filipović said that "Delta Maxi" had income in amount of about 900m EUR on annual basis, but he did not want to say how big the market share is, since an unbiased estimate is expected.

Delta Holding d.o.o. Beograd

Delhaize Serbia d.o.o. Beograd

C Market Beograd

Vrhovni sud Srbije

Dragan Filipović

Commission for Protection of Competition