Dairy Crest/Müller deal referred to competition authority

On 6 November 2014 Dairy Crest announced that it had agreed to sell the assets of its Dairies operations to Müller.  The transaction is conditional on the approval of the relevant competition authorities and following what Dairy Crest described as constructive talks with the European Commission, it has now been referred back to the UK […]

On 6 November 2014 Dairy Crest announced that it had agreed to sell the assets of its Dairies operations to Müller.  The transaction is conditional on the approval of the relevant competition authorities and following what Dairy Crest described as constructive talks with the European Commission, it has now been referred back to the UK for review by the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”).

The transaction remains on track, the company said and, as previously announced, has received the approval of Dairy Crest shareholders.

“This transaction will be a positive development for both Dairy Crest and the UK dairy industry as a whole, delivering economies of scale that will help to create a more sustainable UK dairy sector that is better placed to compete on the global stage,” said Mark Allen, Chief Executive of Dairy Crest. “It has always been our preference for the transaction to be reviewed in the UK, so we welcome this referral back to the CMA as a positive step. We will work with Müller and the CMA to progress the merger review as quickly as possible.”