The Commission for the Promotion of Competition (Coprocom) has ratified its rejection of Walmart’s request to buy Gessa, marking a final decision against the idea. This issue is now considered closed administratively.
The President of the Commission explained that the decision has to do with the effects the transaction would have on competition and suppliers and ultimately the prices that customers would have to pay. Further, he insisted that the arguments presented to reverse the ruling were the same as those originally presented. Because of the size of the market, the effect on competition would be too great. This is the most relevant detail.
You have to find humor in this being that ICE and Recope are basically government owned monopolies in Costa Rica. Wal-Mart whether you like them or do not like them have a very good business model and have never fixed prices……Recope and ICE on the other hand are terribly run and shift their expenditures onto the public.
The purchase would have added 52 new points of sale to Walmart’s 250. Both Walmart and Gessa stated that denial of this purchase puts hundreds of jobs at risk and will lead to closing several points of sale, negatively affecting consumers in those areas. Additionally, the parties were prevented from offering conditions to address the concerns of the authority, something they say is mandatory in the procedure.
