FDBusiness.com

Premier Foods, the UK’s largest domestic food processor, and Princes, the British food and drink company owned by Mitsubishi, are to dispose of the Fray Bentos brand. The move is being made in order to allay the concerns of the Office of Fair Trading regarding the agreed sale of Premier’s canned business, including the Fray Bentos and Crosse & Blackwell brands, to Princes for £182m.

After an investigation, the OFT considers that the deal would lead to competition concerns in relation to the supply of canned pies in the UK. Premier and Princes are the two major canned pie manufacturers and suppliers to retailers in the UK with significant shares of both branded and own label canned pie production. Princes supplies under its own brand name and Premier supplies under the Fray Bentos brand.

In order to remedy competition concerns, the parties have offered to divest the Fray Bentos brand covering a range of meat based canned goods (including canned pies) and some accompanying manufacturing assets. The OFT considers that the remedy offered is capable of resolving in a clear-cut manner the competition concerns identified.

However, if a suitable buyer is no found, the OFT will refer the deal to the Competition Commission. Premier has stated that it still expects to complete the sale of its canned food business to Princes by the end of July.