CMA confirms clearance of Pork Farms/Kerry Foods merger
The CMA has today cleared the completed acquisition by Pork Farms Caspian of the chilled savoury pastry business of Kerry Foods.
This confirms April’s provisional findings by the group of Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) independent panel members investigating the merger.
Pork Farms Group Limited, through its Pork Farms Caspian Limited subsidiary, and Kerry Foods Limited’s chilled savoury pastry business both manufacture and supply branded and own-label products to customers such as supermarkets, convenience stores and wholesalers, with sales worth approximately £1 billion a year.
The merger was referred for an in-depth investigation in January 2015. In its final decision, the group of CMA panel members has concluded that the merger has not resulted, and may not be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition, and hence higher prices or lower quality for retailers or consumers of the products affected by the merger: hot pies, cold pies, sausage rolls, pasties and slices.
The final report is available on the case page along with all other information related to the inquiry.
Notes for editors
- The CMA is the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law. From 1 April 2014 it took over the functions of the Competition Commission and the competition and certain consumer functions of the Office of Fair Trading, as amended by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.
- Under the Enterprise Act 2002, a relevant merger situation is created if 2 or more enterprises have ceased to be distinct enterprises; and the value of the turnover in the United Kingdom of the enterprise being taken over exceeds £70 million (‘the turnover test’) or as a result of the transaction, in relation to the supply of goods or services of any description, a share of supply in the UK (or a substantial part thereof) of at least 25% is created or enhanced (‘the share of supply test’).
- All the CMA’s functions in phase 2 merger inquiries are performed by inquiry groups chosen from the CMA’s panel members. The appointed inquiry group are the decision makers on phase 2 inquiries.
- The CMA’s panel members come from a variety of backgrounds, including economics, law, accountancy and/or business; the membership of an inquiry group usually reflects a mix of expertise and experience (including industry experience).
- The members of the Pork Farms/Kerry Foods merger inquiry group are: John Wotton (Chair), Robin Aaronson, John Krumins, and Anne Lambert.
- Press enquiries should be directed to Siobhan Allen (siobhan.allen@cma.gsi.gov.uk, 020 3738 6460).
- For information on the CMA see our homepage, or follow us on Twitter @CMAgovuk, Flickr and LinkedIn. Sign up to our email alerts to receive updates on merger cases.