Brussels, 28/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has cleared the planned joint acquisition of Soulès, a distributor of non-grain feed ingredients active in France, by InVivo, a French union of cooperatives, and Alfred C. Toepfer International, an international trading company of agricultural commodities. Non-grain feed ingredients are used by compound feed manufacturers to cater for livestock needs in proteins. The main non-grain feed ingredient is soybean meal, most of it being imported from the USA, Argentina, and Brazil. Even though there will be mainly three actors in France (Bunge, Cargill, and the new entity), the Commission has concluded that the transaction will not significantly impede effective competition. The transaction only leads to a limited change in the markets for distribution of non-grain feed ingredients given that; until now, ACTI was barely active in France, and the risk of tacit coordination after the merger is unlikely.