In the fall of 2024, it was reported that certain locations of KIKA/Leiner, which were sold to XXXLutz as part of a restructuring process in 2023, could constitute a merger under Austrian competition law.

According to the Cartel Act, such transactions must be reported to the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) if they meet specific revenue thresholds. However, no notification was submitted for the acquisition activities between Supernova and XXXLutz.

This raised concerns about a possible breach of notification requirements and the prohibition on executing a merger without proper reporting. Consequently, the BWB initiated an investigation, requesting information from both Supernova and XXXLutz.

Both companies complied with the information requests in a timely and comprehensive manner. The investigation revealed that neither the required revenue thresholds were exceeded, nor did the acquired locations constitute a significant part of the business at the time of acquisition.

It was determined that the locations in question no longer had any operational business related to furniture retail. The findings indicated that the acquisitions were merely non-reportable real estate transactions. Therefore, the BWB concluded that the acquisitions did not require notification, and the companies were informed of the closure of the investigation.