Syral’s Tate & Lyle Partial Acquisition Gets EC Green Light
Syral is active in the production and trade of sweeteners and by-products made from maize or wheat. The company is controlled by Tereos, a French sugar producer. The Target consists of five production sites.
24/08/07 The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of certain production facilities of Tate & Lyle (The Target), a UK-based producer of sweeteners, by French company Syral. After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
Syral is active in the production and trade of sweeteners and by-products made from maize or wheat. The company is controlled by Tereos, a French sugar producer. The Target consists of five production sites situated in Italy, UK, Spain, Belgium and France, which are currently part of Tate & Lyle.
The Commission examined the competitive effects of the proposed merger in the markets for liquid sweeteners, dry sweeteners, vital wheat gluten and polyols, where both parties are active. The Commission's analyses focused in particular on the market for liquid sweeteners and found that the combination of the parties' activities would not impede effective competition as Syral is one of the smaller players with one single production plant and limited capacity facing established competitors, who have a strong foothold in the market.
Tate & Lyle, the producer of Splenda sweetener, is selling Syral its starch facilities in Britain, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy for $427.2 million, subject to closing adjustments. Syral would employ 1,160 people, generate sales of over 900 million euros ($1.22 billion) and have earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of 115 million, Tereos said.
Disposing of the business is expected to result in an exceptional loss of $40.8 million after restructuring costs.
