Kerry Foods' savoury pastry division is likely to undergo a merger with Pork Farms, after the UK's competition authority provisionally green-lighted the move.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruled that the merger would not facilitate a monopoly in the market, and thus push up prices of pasties and pies.
Both companies supply these foods in private label formats; Pork Farms also produces its own brand.
According to a CMA spokesperson, as quoted in The Guardian, “We have provisionally concluded that the merger will not give the parties an opportunity to raise prices or reduce quality. The evidence we heard indicated that the merger would not significantly affect customers’ ability to negotiate for the best deal for these products.
“If necessary, customers such as retailers and wholesalers could switch to available alternative suppliers and we found that there was sufficient capacity, either currently available or which could be quickly brought into play, to allow customers to switch suppliers.”
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article written by Peter Donnelly.
