Brussels, 19/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has cleared the planned acquisition of the food ingredient business of Danish company Chr. Hansen, by French independent investment company PAI Partners SAS (“PAI”). The Commission's examination of the deal confirmed that no horizontal overlaps exist among the activities of the parties, including their subsidiaries. The Commission focussed its investigation on the limited (in number and importance) vertical relationships stemming from the deal, the most important being between Yoplait (controlled by PAI) and Chr. Hansen which affects the downstream market for food dairy products and the upstream market for the production of dairy cultures. The Commission concluded that there would be no risk of any of the affected markets concerned being closed off, as there are alternative and competing sources of supply, and no concerns exist regarding the other actual and potential vertical relationships.