Vandemoortele fails to satisfy UK competition concerns over Délifrance acquisition

The UK’s contention regulator is referring Vandemoortele’s acquisition of bakery adjacent Délifrance to an in-depth investigation.

First announced successful March past year, the woody had raised contention concerns successful some the UK and Europe but Belgium-based Vandemoortele had pledged successful December to merchantability 2 plants owned by Délifrance.

In bid to get the acquisition approved by contention authorities, the family-owned radical committed to dispose of the brace of frozen laminated dough facilities successful Avignon successful the southbound of France and different successful Béthune successful the north.

While the European Commission provisionally approved the woody successful December connected those conditions, a purchaser has not yet materialised.

For that reason, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said contiguous (22 April) that it volition present motorboat a alleged Phase 2 investigation.

The regulator said it had assumed the merchantability of the 2 plants “might beryllium susceptible of resolving its contention concerns” but added “the play to resoluteness those concerns has present expired, and Vandemoortele has not formally submitted a projected purchaser for support by the CMA”.

Explaining the conclusions arising from its archetypal Phase 1 probe, the CMA said it “found that the merger could pb to Vandemoortele becoming the largest supplier of frozen viennoiserie products successful the UK by a sizeable margin, and could substantially impact contention successful the proviso of these products, perchance starring to higher prices oregon little prime for customers successful the UK”.

Both companies proviso frozen products specified arsenic croissants and pains au chocolat to retail and foodservice customers, it said.

“While the CMA has engaged intimately with Vandemoortele to enactment its transportation of a resolution, Vandemoortele has not enactment guardant a projected sale,” today’s connection read.

Just Food has contacted Vandemoortele for comment.

When the woody was announced successful March, Vandemoortele said the operation with Délifrance would make a €2.4bn ($2.6bn) bakery group, providing “solutions to retail and foodservice partners”.

Délifrance operates 14 accumulation facilities, employs much than 3,200 unit and supplies retail and out-of-home customers crossed Europe and successful Asia.

Vandemoortele has 28 manufacturing plants and 3,500 workers. The company’s frozen bakery brands see Lizzi, Banquet d’Or and Lanterna, portion the concern besides produces for private-label clients. It supplies markets successful Europe and the US.

Giving its conditional support successful December, the European Commission said: “These structural commitments afloat code the contention concerns.