The European Commission has unconditionally cleared Biscuit International’s acquisition of Continental Bakeries, which will strengthen its position as a leader for private label biscuits in Europe. After the transaction, the combined entity will employ over 4,500 people, with consolidated sales in excess of €900 million and production of over 300,000 tons of biscuits, waffles and bread replacement products from 33 factories in Europe.
The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns given that the companies’ activities are mostly complementary, and that for those markets where the companies’ activities overlap, enough alternative suppliers would remain after the transaction. The Commission also assessed possible conglomerate effects stemming from combined entity’s uniquely large portfolio of sweet biscuits, and concluded that the transaction would give the Parties neither the ability nor the incentive to engage in foreclosing strategies against competitors.
A CRA team advised Biscuit International for the European Commission proceedings.
For more details, please see the EC’s press release.
