Fonterra Co-Operative Group and National Foods
PUBLIC VERSION COMMERCE ACT 1986: BUSINESS ACQUISITION SECTION 66: NOTICE SEEKING CLEARANCE Date: 3 November 2004 The Registrar Business Acquisitions and Authorisations Commerce Commission PO Box 2351 WELLINGTON Pursuant to s66(1) of the Commerce Act 1986 notice is hereby given seeking clearance of a proposed business acquisition. OVERVIEW Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited ("Fonterra") intends to issue a formal takeover offer for up to 100 per cent of the shares in National Foods Limited ("NFL"). From a New Zealand competition perspective, the only area of overlap between the two operations is in the wholesale supply of yoghurts and dairy desserts, undertaken in New Zealand by Fonterra’s subsidiary, Mainland Products Limited ("Mainland"), and by NFL’s subsidiary National Foods International Fine Foods Limited ("NFIFF"). The Commission last considered the wholesale market for yoghurts and dairy desserts in Decision 459, National Foods/NZDF (22 March 2002) ("National Foods"). Given the information available to it at the time, and the particular features of that transaction, the Commission concluded that there would be a substantial lessening of competition. Since then, new information has become available, particularly on the intentions of supermarkets. Equally importantly, the proposed transaction has fundamentally different characteristics to the one considered in National Foods. Hence, contrary to the ultimate conclusion in that decision, this proposed acquisition will not substantially lessen competition (it will, in fact, enhance it) and accordingly a clearance should be granted. There can be no doubt that New Zealand Dairy Foods (“NZDF”), as the largest competitor in the market, will materially constrain the merged entity. There is also no basis for concluding that effective and sustainable co-ordinated behaviour would be likely as a result of the acquisition.
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