State ban against the pizza-acquisitions – Hamar dagblad voicing

Friday, it was clear that the ministry of Trade and the ministry of fisheries agrees with the Competition authority in that Umoe Restaurants AS its acquisition of Dolly Dimple’s shall be prohibited.

– the ministry of Trade and ministry of fisheries and the Norwegian Competition authority has concluded that the two pizza restaurant chains Peppes Pizza and Dolly Dimple’s is very similar and therefore are close competitors, called it in a press release.

15. last september endorsed the Competition authority to stop the acquisition of the Dolly Dimple’s. Umoe Restaurants complained about the decision. 20. January 2017, it was clear that the ministry of Trade and ministry of fisheries will maintain Konkurransetilsynets decision.

– The two pizzakjedene offer relatively similar products, both sell the products through restaurant, home delivery and takeaway and both are chains with a strong brand and similar business model. A merger will therefore invalidate the competition between the two, and this will motivate to increased prices. Other participants in the industry will have little opportunity to discipline the new entrant. The ministry’s and Konkurransetilsynets consideration is that a merger will create a significant restriction of competition, it says in the press release from the ministry.

Peppes Pizza

* Umoe Restaurants AS owner Peppes Pizza AS. Umoe Restaurants is a leading serveringskjede in Scandinavia with nearly 350 restaurants and cafes. The group had a turnover of about three billion in 2015. They have almost 4,000 employees.

* Umoe Restaurants include a variety of different serveringskjeder in Norway; Burger King, TGI Fridays, Peppes Pizza, Starbucks, as well as a number of smaller concepts that are collected under restaurantaktøren Blender.

* Peppes Pizza opened its first restaurant in 1970 and currently has 76 outlets spread throughout the country.

Dolly Dimple’s

* Dolly Dimple’s is owned by Norgesgruppen Servicehandel AS (NGS) and was founded in 1986.

* Norgesgruppen Servicehandel operates chain Deli de Luca, Tiger, Mix, Gulp and Starbucks. NGS also owns 50 per cent of the restaurantkjeden Big Horn.

* Dolly Dimple’s has 41 outlets spread over large parts of the country. They have a total of 615 employees, and had in 2015 an overall turnover of 327,2 million.

(Source: ministry of Trade and ministry of fisheries)