Acquisitive France-based poultry processor LDC has got competition approval for another transaction, the country’s anti-trust watchdog has announced.
France’s Autorité de la Concurrence this week gave the green light to LDC’s acquisition of local processors Rémi Ramon and its Sofral subsidiary.
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LDC, France’s largest poultry company, has bought two slaughterhouses, located in Lassay-les-Châteaux and in Javron-les-Chapelles, both in the north west of the country. Rémi Ramon and Sofral market poultry, in particular under the Duc de Mayenne label.
The competition watchdog said the deal “does not harm the situations of farmers and consumers” despite an “overlap in Pays-de-la-Loire with regard to the collection of chickens, turkeys and guinea fowl”.
“Despite market shares that are sometimes very high in many of these markets at the local level, the authority considered that the characteristics and functioning of poultry markets, in particular at the stage of slaughtering chickens and turkeys, are a constraint on the competitive behavior of the new entity in the areas concerned,” the watchdog said.
It added its analysis was “confirmed by the majority” of farmers interviewed as part of a consultation on the deal.
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By GlobalDataThe watchdog also pointed to “competition from several operators at the national level”, in particular from companies including Terrena and Duc.
“The authority has also taken into account the growing importance of imports in the poultry sector, which exerts strong competitive pressure on the French poultry sector as a whole, and on the LDC group in particular,” it added.
