FDBusiness.com

The European Commission has partially referred the proposed merger between Danish Crown and Tican to the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (DCCA) at its request. Both companies are Danish and are active in the operation of slaughterhouses and in meat processing. After a preliminary investigation, the Commission found that the proposed transaction would threaten to significantly affect competition in certain markets in Denmark. Those aspects will now be examined by the DCCA under national law.

At the same time, the Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed transaction in the other affected Member States (Poland, Sweden and the UK), concluding that the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) outside Denmark given the low market shares of the parties in these markets.

Danish Crown and Tican are both vertically integrated food companies with activities at every level within the value chain for pig meat, including pig breeding, slaughtering, meat processing and in supplying fresh pig meat. Their activities span several European countries including Denmark, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

On 3 June 2015, Danish Crown and Tican notified the Commission of the proposed merger. The evidence gathered by the Commission confirmed that the merger threatens to affect significantly competition in Denmark, where Danish Crown and Tican are currently the two largest competitors. The Commission therefore decided to partially refer the merger to the Danish Competition Authority, which will deal with the case under national law.

Danish Crown is the ultimate parent company of the Danish Crown Group, an international food company based in Denmark with activities across the globe. Danish Crown itself is a co-operative owned by its members, who supply raw materials (pigs, sows and cattle) to the co-operative.

Tican is the second largest and only other co-operative pig slaughterhouse in Denmark. Tican is vertically integrated through its subsidiaries in the slaughtering of pigs (Denmark) and meat processing (Denmark, Poland and the UK). Tican has sales worldwide.