Brussels, 17/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 17 November, the European Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of the French company KoroFrance, the holding company of the animal feed Provimi Group, by the US-based multinational Cargill. It concluded, after investigation, that the operation, notified on 11 October last, would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area (EEA). The investigation showed that the horizontal overlaps between the activities of Cargill and KoroFrance in animal compound feed and feed mixes would not raise competition concerns given the relatively limited combined market position of the merging parties and the presence of a sufficient number of alternative suppliers.
The Commission also assessed the vertical integration of Cargill's activities on the crude and refined seed oil markets and those of KoroFrance in the animal feed sector. It concluded that competitors of KoroFrance were unlikely to be shut out from the market, as they would be able to source their needs of crude seed oil from alternative suppliers. Although Cargill has high market shares in the supply of refined seed oil to the feed industry in some member states, there is also no foreclosure risk mainly because the animal feed industry represents a small share of the total demand for refined seed oil and the merged entity will remain a small customer of these oils. (FG/transl.fl)