FDBusiness.com

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of Fazer Group’s food service operations in Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden by Compass Group for €475 million. Fazer Food Services has a total of approximately 1,000 restaurants of which 500 are located in Finland, 230 in Sweden, 150 in Denmark and 120 in Norway. In addition, it has a production kitchen in Estonia.

The sale is in line with Fazer Group’s strategy of focusing on its fast-moving consumer goods and direct-to-consumer businesses. Compass Group is a leading global food service provider with revenues of around €26 billion. It operates in around 45 countries, employs 600,000 people and serves over 5.5 billion meals a year. The company specialises in providing food services across the core sectors of Business & Industry, Healthcare & Seniors, Education, Sports & Leisure and Defence, Offshore & Remote, with an established brand portfolio.

The European Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, because a number of credible competitors are active in the same markets as the companies, the barriers to entry and expansion are fairly low, and customers can switch relatively easily between contract foodservices suppliers.