The Commission for Protection of Competition has approved the takeover through which Kosovo's Proex International, based in Pristina, gains control of Tinex Market DOOEL Skopje. Behind that legal entity sits the entire retail business of Tinex-MT: the stores trading under the Tinex, SuperTinex, Tinex Delikates, Konto and Spot brands. One of the most recognisable domestic chains is passing into Kosovo hands.

The timeline is instructive. On 2 July the seller and buyer signed a letter of intent. On 14 July, just 12 days later, Tinex-MT registered a new company called Tinex Market - the vessel the business is being poured into. On 10 August the notification reached the commission, supplemented a day later. And here is the decision. From letter to approval in under three months. When it wants to, the Macedonian administration knows how to move fast. It depends who is waiting at the counter.

Who is the buyer? Proex is one of Kosovo's largest retail companies, part of a group active in trade, distribution, logistics and petroleum products. Businessman Shaip Mikulovci, born in 1984, holds a 93 percent stake and chairs the group that owns Interex, Emona Group, IP Petrol and Shell Kosovo, along with shopping centres in Pristina, Peja and Drenas. In 2023 they secured a package of up to 20 million euros from the EBRD to expand the network, and Kosovo media report a turnover of 235 million euros in 2025.

The commission's logic is simple: Proex and its group had no affiliated entities in Macedonia and not a single denar of turnover on the Macedonian market in 2025. On paper, then, two competitors are not merging - a new player is entering. Hence no "creation or strengthening of a dominant position" and no regulatory obstacle. From a competition standpoint, that is correct. From the market's standpoint, the buyer will be dominant in at least one segment tomorrow - its own stores.

What does this mean for the shopper at the till? Nothing has been announced yet - not about the product range, not about prices, not about the people working in all those stores. How many domestic chains are left in domestic ownership, and which one gets sold to a group from next door after this?

The decision removes the last regulatory obstacle. What remains is the preliminary share purchase agreement and the final paperwork. The company meant to receive the business was registered almost four weeks before the commission was even notified. Efficiency - or a sign the outcome was never in doubt?