Notification of a concentration (Case M.7930 — ABP Group/Fane Valley Group/Slaney Foods) (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2016-09-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, meat processing industry, merger control, waste disposal, wholesale trade








C_2016336EN.01001601.xml










13.9.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 336/16





Notification of a concentration
(Case M.7930 — ABP Group/Fane Valley Group/Slaney Foods)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2016/C 336/07)






1.


On 2 September 2016, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertaking(s) ABP Food Group (‘ABP’, Ireland) and Fane Valley Cooperative Society Limited (‘Fane Valley’, UK) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Slaney Foods Joint Venture (‘Slaney JV’, Ireland) and Slaney Proteins (Ireland) through a series of interrelated transactions, by way of purchase of shares.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


ABP is an agribusiness company. Its subsidiaries are active in meat processing, supplying a range of chilled, frozen and other meat products to retail, wholesale and foodservices markets worldwide. ABP is also active in petfood, renewable energy and proteins.










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Fane Valley is a farmer-owned cooperative active in a variety of agribusiness sectors. Its activities include the slaughter and processing of beef and lamb in Northern Ireland and the UK.










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The Slaney JV is currently a 50:50 JV between Fane Valley and Lanber Group (a non-affiliated, third-party company). The Slaney JV comprises Slaney Foods International (‘SFI’, its beef business, located in the Republic of Ireland) and Irish Country Meats (‘ICM’, the sheep/lamb meat business, with operating sites located in the Republic of Ireland and in Belgium). Slaney operates three meat-processing plants on the island of Ireland, one of which slaughters beef and two of which slaughter sheep/lamb. ICM also purchases lamb carcasses for further processing.










—


Slaney Proteins operates a small Category 3 rendering facility which primarily processes Category 3 material generated by the Slaney JV.














3.


On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.










4.


The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.
Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number M.7930 — ABP Group/Fane Valley Group/Slaney Foods, to the following address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Competition




Merger Registry




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË










(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’).