UK: CMA approves Dairy Crest disposal to Muller

Dairy Crest’s disposal of its dairy business to Germany’s Müller has been given the green light by the UK competition regulator.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted remedies suggested by Müller to resolve competition concerns and said that the deal, which was first announced almost a year ago, was good for the industry and would not hurt milk prices.

Müller agreed to expand existing supplies of fresh liquid milk to national grocery retailers in the South West and Wales, which was a chief concern of the watchdog since it began investigating the deal in March.

Sheldon Mills, CMA senior director of mergers, said: “The dairy processing industry has faced a number of significant challenges in recent years and we believe that this outcome is good for the dairy industry and the retailers. The remedy addresses in a clear-cut manner the competition concerns we had with the merger in especially the South West and Wales regions.”

Full content: Shropshire Star

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