Rival juice company merger given the go-ahead after CMA squeeze

THE merger of a Leeds juice firm and its East Midlands rival has been given the go-ahead by the Competition and Markets Authority after concerns arose that the deal would hinder competition in the sector.

Leeds-based Hain Frozen Foods acquired Northants company Orchard House Foods on 21 December. The CMA launched its investigation into the deal in March this year.

Now, nine months later, it has been given the go ahead. The CMA took issue with the merger as, according to authorities, the two companies are the only ones in the UK supplying major supermarkets with freshly squeezed juice.

UK juice sales total £112m annually, said the CMA, and its initial investigations found that other juice manufacturers did not intend to start supplying freshly squeezed juices to replace the lost competition.

The companies offered, as a remedy package, to sell Hain’s own-label freshly squeezed fruit juice business to Multiple Marketing Ltd, a company producing ‘From Concentrate’ and ‘Not From Concentrate’ juices.

During the consultation, it was found that the owner of Multiple Marketing Ltd was also a shareholder of another supplier of own-label fruit juice, Fruitapeel (Juice) Ltd, but following investigations, the CMA concluded that this would not affect the merger.

Sheldon Mills, CMA senior director of mergers and the decision-maker in this case said at the launch of the investigation earlier this year that the merger “removes the rivarly between 2 long-standing suppliers” of juice, and that they needed to ensure that it did not result in higher prices or worse quality products for retailers and consumers.