19/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - Mergers: Forfarmers/Hendrix. On Monday 19 March, the European Commission cleared the planned acquisition of animal feed producer Hendrix, currently part of Nutreco, by the Dutch agricultural commodities and feed producer Forfarmers. The Commission found that the transaction would not raise competition concerns because of the limited market position of the merging parties and the presence of sufficient competitors on the markets concerned. The parties' activities overlap in the markets for the supply of compound feed and broiler breeders in the Netherlands and the supply of single feed in the Netherlands and Belgium. The Commission's investigation showed that the merging parties would have a relatively limited combined market position and that a sufficient number of alternative suppliers remain on the markets. The Commission also assessed the vertical relationships arising from the merging parties' presence in the market for single feed (upstream) to compound feed and the market for compound feed to broiler breeder (downstream). The Commission's investigation revealed that the transaction would not risk shutting out rivals from the affected markets, primarily because of the modest combined market shares of the parties and the presence of sufficient alternative suppliers. The deal was notified to the Commission on 10 February 2012. (FG/transl.fl)