European Regulators Pause Mars-Kellanova Approval Process
The European Commission, fearing consolidation in snacks, asks the two parties for more information; U.S. FTC has already approved the $36 billion deal.
While the acquisition of Kellanova by Mars was approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission last month, European antitrust regulators have paused their investigation of the deal and asked for more information from the two parties.
Reuters news service reported the European Commission, which acts as the competition watchdog for the 27-country bloc, suspended its process last week. Rather than ruling quickly on the deal, the commission a month earlier opened a full-scale investigation worrying that the business combination could lessen competition and result in price increases.
Mars made a $36 billion bid in August 2024 for Kellanova, the snack- and European-heavy half of the former Kellogg Co. None of the European news reports we saw indicated what information the European Commission was asking for, but the commission had a previous deadline of Oct. 31 – which can be extended.
Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.
