Pork Farms given final clearance for Kerry Foods deal
THE Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared Pork Farms Group’s acquisition of the chilled savoury pastry business of Smethwick’s Kerry Foods.
The acquisition provides Market Drayton-based Pork Farms with two additional sites, one in Spalding, Lincolnshire and the other in Poole, Dorset, giving the group greater depth and breadth in the chilled savoury pastry category.
The deal also allows Pork Farms to further invest in facilities, insight and innovation to develop its product set into chilled convenience categories.
Walls Pastries (under licence) and Millers will now join the Pork Farms Group stable of brands, which include Pork Farms, Bowyers, No G and Farmhouse.
Chris Peters, group managing director at Pork Farms, said: “The CMA’s decision marks the start of an incredibly exciting new time for our business and our employees.
“The acquisition gives our business greater capabilities and opportunities for the future, allowing us to expand our product range through innovation and consumer insight delivered by a strong and talented team.
“Following the CMA’s formal clearance, our priority is to move ahead to integrate the Spalding and Poole businesses into the Pork Farms Group.
“We will now take stock of our entire business, taking into account our employees’, customers’, owners’ and suppliers’ needs, to help us define the future direction of the new group and fulfil opportunities in what is an exciting and pivotal time in the UK chilled food market.”
The competition watchdog had provisionally cleared the completed acquisition back in April.
The deal was referred for an in-depth investigation in January.
The CMA was concerned because Pork Farms and Kerry Foods’ chilled savoury pastry (CSP) business both manufacture and supply branded and own-label CSP products to customers such as supermarkets, convenience stores and wholesalers.
CSP products include cold pies (such as pork pies), sausage rolls, pasties, slices, hot pies, quiches and scotch eggs, and are worth approximately £1bn a year.
In its provisional findings the CMA has provisionally 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 for the products affected by the merger.
