Anything is possible in BiH: Purchase agreement signed on February 31st!?

The Competition Council of BiH, at its session held on July 17, 2014, issued a decision assessing as permissible the concentration in the retail market of fast-moving consumer goods on the relevant geographic market of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will arise from the acquisition of control of the business entity Tropic Group B.V., Haaksbergweg 79, 1101 BR Amsterdam, Kingdom of the Netherlands, over the business entity Delhaize BH d.o.o. Banja Luka, Branka Popovića 115, 78000 Banja Luka, through the purchase of a majority stake, based on a purchase agreement signed on February 31, 2014, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Namely, the explanation of the decision states that the „legal basis of the concentration is the Agreement on the purchase and sale of the business entity Delhaize BH, concluded on February 31, 2014, between the business entity Lion Holding and the business entity Delhaize Serbia (seller) and the business entity Tropico Group (buyer).“

Earlier, the Bosnian news agency Patria reported that the supermarket chain Delhaize had agreed to sell 39 MAXI supermarkets in BiH to Tropic Group B.V., owned by Mirko Risović from Banja Luka, due to its withdrawal from this part of the Southeast European market. The value of this investment is not known.

The Competition Council, through an analysis of relevant data, assessed that the implementation of the concentration in question will not significantly increase the market share on the relevant market in Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor will it lead to the creation or strengthening of a dominant position of the concentration participants.

For now, it is unknown to whom and how this gross error in the date slipped in, and whether the agreement was indeed signed on February 31 or if the Competition Council of BiH made an oversight.