Overview

• In June the Bundeskartellamt blocked PFG’s planned purchase of Vion’s southern German slaughterhouses over concerns it would hold excessive market power.
• PFG has filed an appeal with the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf and is weighing a ministerial permit that could override the cartel authority’s ban.
• At a Herrsching gathering, Westfleisch CEO Wilhelm Uffelmann proposed full or partial takeover of the sites under a short, simplified competition-law review.
• Vion is divesting locations in Buchloe, Waldkraiburg, Crailsheim and Hilden as part of its withdrawal from the German market.
• Farmers and Vion employees face uncertainty about the future ownership and structure of regional slaughter capacity.