Danish Crown and Tican merger under review
Business competition authorities in Denmark will review the proposed merger between Danish Crown and Tican, Denmark’s largest pork processors. The co-ops of both companies approved the merger in March.
The merger of the two cooperatively owned slaughterhouse businesses was decided after Tican had been looking to find an economic business partner for some time. Among Tican’s owners, 91% said yes to the merger, while for Danish Crown’s Board of Representatives the figure was 100%.
Both Tican and Danish Crown are international businesses generating most of their revenue outside Denmark, and a significant part outside the EU. Even though this is an important merger in a Danish context, the merged company will still be a relatively small player on the European market.
The European Commission approved the proposed merger in Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom after its investigation found no threat to effective competition outside Denmark “given the low market shares of the parties in these markets.” Tican and Danish Crown generate most of their revenue outside Denmark, and a significant part outside the European Union.
Company’s represent lion’s share of pork production in Denmark
But in Denmark the situation is different because the company’s represent the lion’s share of pork production. The commission partially referred the proposed merger to the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (DCCA) at the agency’s request. The commission found that the proposed merger “would threaten to significantly affect competition in certain markets in Denmark,” the EC said in a statement.
“The evidence gathered by the commission confirmed that the merger threatens to affect significantly competition in Denmark, where Danish Crown and Tican are currently the two largest competitors,” the commission noted. “The Commission therefore decided to partially refer the merger to the Danish Competition Authority, which will deal with the case under national law.”
Tican owns processing companies in Denmark, the United Kingdom and Poland. Danish Crown is Europe’s leading processed-meats business via its DC Foods division.
Join 18,000+ subscribers
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about all the need-to-know content in the pigsector, three times a week.
