The European Commission has cleared the acquisition of joint control over Linden Foods by ABP Food Group and Fane Valley unconditionally, following a broad investigation in the markets where the activities of the companies overlapped.
Under the EU Merger Regulation, the Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition, as the evidence of the investigation has concluded that the transaction will not negatively affect competition in the EU Single Market.
Linden Foods is currently solely controlled by Fane Valley, a farmer owned cooperative society. ABP Food Group is active in the slaughtering and processing of cattle and ovine animals.
ABP, Fane Valley and Linden Foods are all active in Ireland and the UK in the purchase and slaughter of live cattle, sheep, and lambs, as well as the processing of their meat.
These included the markets for purchasing live animals, the downstream markets relating to the sale of fresh and processed meat, and the collection of animal by-product.
ABP currently holds a non-controlling interest in Linden and proposes to increase its shareholding to 50% with the effect that after the transaction, Linden will be jointly controlled by ABP and Fane Valley.
In 2016, the Commission cleared the acquisition of joint control over Slaney JV by ABP and Fane Valley.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.