PRESS RELEASE

ORGANIZED MASS DISTRIBUTION: ANTITRUST SANCTIONS COOP ESTENSE FOR ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION

Systematically obstructed the efforts of Esselunga, a competitor, to launch medium- and large-sized sales points in the Province of Modena. Must now cease this conduct and take action to unblock the standoff that was created in the permit process to allow the competitor to open new supermarkets. At the request of the interested party, the 4 million 600 thousand euro sanction may be paid in installments, and the Antitrust intends to take the natural disaster tied to the earthquake into account. A separate investigation into Unicoop Tirreno, triggered by a report from Esselunga, was closed without establishing a violation due to lack of evidence

In a meeting on 06^th June 2012, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato resolved that Coop Estense abused its dominant position in the market for supermarkets and superstores in the province of Modena by seriously delaying, if not blocking outright, the entry or expansion of Esselunga, one of its competitors, in this province.

The investigation was launched in February 2011 in light of various reports in the media and substantiated by the information requested from Esselunga by the Authority offices.

These documents revealed that Coop Estense, a member of the Coop Italia consortium along with eight other large cooperatives, implemented a unitary, ongoing and repetitious strategy from 2001 to 2009, the effects of which are being felt even now. In specific, the company systematically meddled in its competitor's efforts to open new grocery sales points in areas with potential as commercial locations that were already at its disposal, particularly in the Municipalities of Modena, at first, and later Vignola, also intervening instrumentally in the administrative procedures under way after being initiated by Esselunga to obtain the necessary permits. This strategy was embedded in a market context that is already characterized by the low availability of suitable areas for commercial locations and sizeable administrative barriers to entry.

These practices enabled Coop Estense to uphold and even strengthen its dominant position in the related markets with continued growth in its market shares, which reached 66% of the superstore market and 47% of the supermarket market in the Province of Modena in 2011. By impeding an efficient competitor from entering the market, furthermore, Coop Estense damaged consumer interests in the form of higher prices and/or less selection.

As a consequence of the Antitrust decision, Coop Estense must unblock the standoff that was created and must promote initiatives to enable its competitor to initiate commercial activities within six months.

The Antitrust also ruled to impose a 4 million 600 thousand euro sanction on Coop Estense. Although the abuse of dominant position producing concrete restrictions of the market was quite serious, the size of the sanction was reduced in response to the practices that the company is employing to make it easier for its competitors to access the market. At the request of the interested party, the sanction may nevertheless be paid in installments. The Authority, in fact, expressly affirmed that its assessment of whether to allow the sanction to be paid in installments will take into account the state of natural disaster in which the territory finds itself following the recent earthquake.

In a separate and distinct measure, the Authority instead found that there was not sufficient evidence to establish the existence of an abuse of dominant position by Unicoop Tirreno, another Coop. The investigation was initiated in February 2011 in response to a report by Esselunga, who alleged that Unicoop Tirreno engaged in abusive practices to block their entry in the province of Livorno.

Rome, 28^th June 2012