The European Commission on Friday cleared France’s Danone to proceed with its $10.4 billion purchase of U.S. organic food producer WhiteWave, subject to it selling a business in Belgium.
Danone will sell a large part of its “growing-up milk” business in Belgium, as the Commission said only Nestle would have remained as a competitor in the country otherwise.
“The Commission had concerns that the merged entity would not have faced sufficient competitive pressure from the remaining player in this market,” the Commission, which enforces competition rules in the European Union, said in a statement.
The purchase of WhiteWave, Danone’s largest acquisition since 2007, will help it pursue affluent consumers by adding WhiteWave’s popular health food offerings such as Silk almond milk and Earthbound Farm organic salad.
By Robert-Jan Bartunek
Source: Reuters
Danone has appointed three deputy CEOs to “better connect categories and regions” and drive the delivery of its ‘Renew Danone’ strategy. The new appointees are Veronique Penchienati-Bosetta, Shane Grant and Juergen Esser. They will report to Danone CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique.
PepsiCo Portugal has announced that it will invest €7.5 million to construct a new biodigester, which will turn organic waste into biogas. As well as helping its Carregado facility to achieve a 30% reduction in carbon emissions, the biodigester will also contribute to reducing gas consumption, allowing the installation to use the biogas produced during the anaerobic digestion process.
Kerry is sponsoring The Kerry Upcycled Food Foundation Fellowship in a new partnership with the Upcycled Food Foundation (UFF), the non-profit subsidiary of the Upcycled Food Association (UFA). The research fellowship is the second initiated by the UFF and will work toward advancing the understanding of the market, consumer perception and technical opportunities of upcycled food.
