Jumbo buy of Super de Boer gets watchdog approval

Dutch grocer Super De Boer said on Monday the competition authority had approved its sale to rival Jumbo and Chief Executive Jan Brouwer, who helped lead the company back to profitability, would resign. Super de Boer, formerly called Laurus and majority owned by French peer Casino, had agreed in October to a €552.5 million offer from unlisted Jumbo, which had trumped an approach from Sperwer, another Dutch grocer. Super de Boer said the Dutch competition authority NMa had approved the deal, which is now expected to be closed on December 18, while Jumbo said in a separate release it would need to sell one store to a rival supermarket to meet the NMa's conditions. As part of the deal, Jumbo had already agreed to sell 80 Super De Boer stores to rival Schuitema, which owns the Netherlands' second largest supermarket chain C1000. Super de Boer also said its chief executive, Jan Brouwer, intended to resign upon completion of the deal, but would remain available for Super de Boer until March 31, 2010.