| Heinz referred to Competition Commission for HP takeover |
|
|
LONDON - The Office of Fair Trading has expressed concern that the prices of tomato ketchup and brown sauce could rise unfairly after the takeover of HP Foods by US-based food company Heinz.
The £470 million acquisition has been referred to the Competition Commission by the OFT. UK-based HP Foods, which sells a variety of sauces under the brands Lea & Perrins, Daddies and Amoy, was sold to HJ Heinz by French company Danone in June.
This takeover would make Heinz the undisputed leader in the world sauce market. The OFT said that the deal could be contradictory to competition in several areas, “This deal brings together two of the largest branded suppliers of sauces in the UK. As a result of the merger, retail customers and consumers could suffer from less competition resulting in higher prices for products such as HP brown sauce, tomato ketchup and baked beans," observed Vincent Smith, the OFT's head of competition enforcement.
Faced with such evidence, the OFT decided to drop the whole thing into the Competition Commission’s lap, which now has 24 weeks to submit its report. Heinz, which is a leading sauce maker in its own right is confident that the referral would not entail any problems for it, "It is not unusual for acquisitions of this magnitude to be referred to the Competition Commission to ensure that any potential concerns are addressed," said Jane Miller, head of Heinz in the UK and Ireland. "Heinz is confident that this acquisition will meet the criteria for final clearance. This deal has already received approval from the merger authorities in Ireland and Germany."
Posted
on : Mon, 31 Oct 2005 01:35 GMT | General News
By : Mark Richardson
|
| |
| Related |
|
|
|
