The Latvian Competition Council at the end of July authorised Circle K Latvia to acquire sole decisive influence over 26 Astarte-nafta petrol stations. Both Circle K and Astarte-nafta are active in the retail and wholesale of fuel and petroleum products, as well as offering additional goods and services such as autogas, fast food, hot drinks and necessities.
The Circle K network includes 72 full-service and automated service stations. There are also Circle K franchise companies in Latvia.
The Council found that the merger would lead to a significant increase in Circle K's market share in the retail markets for diesel and petrol in Dobele. The merger is considered problematic in the Dobele market. In addition, the merging parties are likely to have an incentive to increase prices, in particular for petrol.
In order to address these competition concerns on the Dobele market, Circle K offered binding terms to convert the service station acquired in Dobele into an automated service station, the concept of which is to offer lower fuel prices than full-service service stations.
Original article Circle K buys Astarte-nafta fueling stations in Latvia / Article
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