The Rewe Group has been given the go-ahead to takeover 328 Plus stores from Tengelmann in Germany. The German anti-trust body, Bundeskartellamt, has unconditionally approved the acquisition by the country's second-largest food retailer.

The stores will be integrated into the group's Penny network, taking the total number of stores in Germany to 2,400 and increasing sales to EUR7.6 billion, up from EUR6.6 billion this year.

The decision should benefit the other German retailer, Edeka, which is trying to buy the remaining Plus network of 2,300 outlets. The anti-trust body had said that Edeka could only acquire the Plus network if it abandoned around 378 of those stores due to concerns about regional market dominance.

The regulator is still negotiating Edeka's purchase of the remaining outlets. “We are expecting a final decision by the cartel office in December,” said an Edeka spokesperson.

Rewe said it is planning to convert all Plus stores to Penny by March 2009. This will be supported by targeted investments in advertising and marketing concepts to enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of the acquired locations over the long run.

Penny is one of the leading discounters in Europe. Its store base in Germany, Austria, Italy, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary encompasses over 3,000 stores with a total of 33,300 employees, achieving a turnover of EUR10.1 billion.

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