Post Merger Price Conduct: A Case Study of Pricing in Connecticut Markets After the 1996 Royal Ahold-Stop & Shop Merger

This study was provided to the staff at the Federal Trade Commission in October, 1999. It expands the analysis of divestitures that was presented in an April 1999 report to the FTC (An Antitrust Economic Analysis of the Proposed Acquisition of Supermarkets General Holdings Corporation by Ahold Acquisition Inc., Food Marketing Policy Center Research Report No. 46). The earlier study focused on market share changes in divested markets. This study examines price conduct. In December 1999, Royal Ahold withdrew its tender offer citing a new and tougher level of enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission. Piecemeal divestitures that sought to preserve competition in local market areas are now recognized as inadequate. The momentum of acquirers in local markets and concerns for buying power disparities that disadvantage "smaller" chains, as well as food manufacturers and farmers, now clearly seem to be on the antitrust agenda.