The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Competition
("GAC") announced this week that its board had blocked
Delivery Hero's proposed acquisition of The Chefz, a Saudi food
delivery app. Germany-based Delivery Hero operates several food
delivery apps in Saudi Arabia that compete with The Chefz, plus
others that operate in adjacent countries. This marks the first
time that GAC has blocked a proposed transaction, suggesting the
beginning of greater merger enforcement in the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia issued a new competition law and implementing
regulations in 2019, the latter of which established a low filing
threshold based on whether the parties to the transaction generate
combined global revenues of SAR 100 million (~$26 million). Earlier
this year, GAC released Merger Review Guidelines that outline how
GAC conducts merger reviews and the remedies GAC may accept as part
of a conditional approval. Prior to the Delivery Hero deal with
Chefz, GAC had not blocked any
