The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will not stand in the way of a Coles acquisition of Halls Head's Supa Progressive IGA.
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In a statement released on Thursday morning, the ACC will also allow the takeover of the attached liquor licence in Halls Head.
“The ACCC noted community concerns that the proposed acquisition would remove Progressive’s differentiated offering from the local areas,” ACCC Commissioner Dr Jill Walker said.
“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.
“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."
The acquisition had faced plenty of opposition from Mandurah locals from the outset with an extension on a decision given due to the volume of public interest.
But it was determined the Progressive store faced a potential closure without the Coles acquisition.
" The ACCC also noted Metcash’s willingness to sell the stores, despite the fact that Metcash will lose grocery sales at the wholesale level," the release stated.
"For these reasons, the ACCC concluded that the proposed acquisition of these stores is not likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in the relevant local markets for supermarket retailing."
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