COLES has been given the green light to take over a Bunbury Supa IGA store despite community concerns the move would diminish competition.
The competitor regulator took into account Aldi's expansion into WA in deciding to grant the supermarket giant approval to acquire three independent grocery stores in Bunbury, Halls Head and Dianella.
The ACCC has deferred a decision on a fourth store, a Supa IGA at Busselton, at the request of Coles, which is seeking to provide further information to the commission.
The stores are owned by Progressive Trading, which is jointly owned by the Oliveri family and grocery wholesaler Metcash.
ACCC Commissioner Dr Jill Walker said the commission noted community concerns that Coles' acquisition of the independently operated stores would diminish competition and remove the Supa IGA's differentiated offering.
"However, in each of the local markets around these three stores, there is at least one large competitive independent offer, in addition to Woolworths supermarkets," Dr Walker said.
"The ACCC also took into account information that suggested that Aldi would be likely to enter some of the relevant markets in the coming years as part of its expansion into Western Australia," Dr Walker said.
Aldi has 350 stores in the eastern states and plans to open between 105 and 115 stores in South Australia and Western Australia over the next few years.
The competition watchdog's original view was that Coles acquisitions would lead to a substantial lessening in competition because there were no other Supa IGA stores in at least three of the four markets.
However, after a two month review, the ACCC came to the conclusion that the three stores were likely to close when leases expired over the next six years if Coles did not go ahead with the acquisition.
There were no other likely buyers and no other independent grocery retailers were likely to take over the stores.
The ACCC's decision means that Coles will own three of the six supermarkets in Bunbury, two out of five major supermarkets in Halls Head and nine out of 18 large supermarkets In Dianella.
After opening a limited number of new stores over the last five years, Coles is stepping up capital investment and plans to open 70 new supermarkets over the next three years.
