Serbia’s Commission for Competition Protection has approved the takeover of Danube Foods Group (DFG) by private equity fund Mid Europa Partners.
The anti-trust regulator said that it approved the concentration because the buyer "explicitly stated" that neither the company, nor related market participants, do not have subsidiaries, nor are present in the circulation of goods and services in Serbia, CEFTA and EU countries.
Furthermore, the Commission has determined that the implementation of the notified acquisition will not, in any significant way, obstruct, restrict or distort competition on the Serbian market and, in particular, would not create or strengthen a dominant market position.
The €575 million deal was signed in February and should be completed in the first half of 2015. Mid Europa Partners will conduct the takeover via Adriatic BidCo, a company based in The Netherlands. Also participating in the purchase are the EBRD, UniCredit, Raiffeisen, ING, BNP and Citi, as well as Serbian partner Andrej Jovanović.
DFG is the biggest foods group in Serbia with revenues of more than €400 million last year. It owns dairy companies and Mlekara Subotica, confectionery producer Bambi and mineral water and non-alcoholic beverages producer Knjaz Miloš. DFG exports its products to the markets of the former Yugoslavia as well as to Western Europe.
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