Commission Authorizes Creation of a Joint Venture Between Senoble and Agrial in the Dairy Sector

Feb 22 2012 --- The European Commission cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed creation of Senagral, a joint venture to be controlled by Senoble and Agrial, two French companies operating in the dairy sector.

The joint venture will operate in the production and sale of private label fresh dairy products in France, Germany and Benelux. The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns, in particular because the new entity will have numerous competitors in the markets concerned.

 

The activities of the parties to the operation overlap in the supply of raw cow's milk in France. However, the parties will continue to have numerous competitors in this market.

 

In addition, the proposed operation creates a vertical relationship between the upstream production of raw cow’s milk and the downstream production of fresh dairy products. The Commission found that milk producers would continue to have a significant number of other customers. It also concluded that the proposed operation was highly unlikely to cause problems of supply of raw cow’s milk in France. There are other suppliers with sufficient production capacities and there are no factors that could act as an incentive to the merged entity to engage in a strategy of input foreclosure.

 

The Commission therefore concluded that this operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA)1 or any substantial part of it.

 

The transaction was notified to the Commission on 16 January 2012.