Approval For Vion’s Proposed Acquisition of Weyl
The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of Weyl by Vion, two Dutch producers of meat products. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
Weyl is an international beef and calf processing company in bankruptcy. Weyl was founded in 1977 and was the largest producer and processor of beef in the Netherlands. Before it went bankrupt, the company employed well over 600 personnel, of whom approximately 200 were temporary staff.
Uwe Tillmann, chief executive and chairman of the executive board of Vion.
Owned by Dutch farmers, Vion is the leading fresh meat group in Europe. It is active in the purchase and slaughtering of livestock, production and sale of meat products and derived convenience food products and ingredients.
The Commission focused its investigation on the potential competitive effects of the horizontal overlaps for the proposed merger in the area of purchase of live cattle and calves for slaughtering, sale of fresh beef and veal and abattoir by-products. In addition, the Commission addressed the vertically affected markets that is from the abattoir by-products to the sale of fresh beef and veal. The Commission found that the proposed acquisition would not give rise to any competition concerns on these markets.
