The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has given Aurivo Consumer Foods Limited – a subsidiary of Aurivo Co-operative Society Limited (Aurivo) – the green light to proceed with its acquisition of certain assets of Arrabawn Co-Operative Society Limited.
Under the terms of the proposed acquisition, which was notified to the CCPC in February 2023, Aurivo will acquire specified assets including parts of Arrabawn’s business “in the supply of branded and unbranded liquid milk, cream and butter products”.
Aurivo is an agri-business co-op, whose primary business is the sale of dairy ingredients and products, such as powders and fresh milk, cream, butter and ready to drink protein shakes.
But it also has a number of agricultural retail stores which sell animal feeds, agricultural goods, hardware and other products.
Last August, the board of Arrabawn announced that it had decided to cease processing operations at its liquid milk plant in Kilconnell in east Co. Galway by summer 2023.
Arrabawn is also an agri-business co-op whose key operations include the sale of dairy products, food ingredients and animal feed products as well as an agricultural retail store.
The deal, which was investigated by the CCPC, involves the purchase of the liquid milk contracts by Aurivo. However, Arrabawn would retain ownership of the plant and is set to examine alternative uses for the facility.
Arrabawn Co-op currently employs 110 people in the liquid milk portion of its business.
The co-op had previously said that approximately half of these workers will transfer with the business, with redeployment opportunities also being made available to others across the wider company.
CCPC
In a statement today (Friday, September 15) the CCPC said that it had “determined in July 2023 that a full investigation was required to establish if the proposed acquisition would substantially lessen competition in any market for goods or services in the state”.
It added: “Having examined the relevant markets in detail, the CCPC has determined that the proposed acquisition would not substantially lessen competition in these markets and, as a result, can be put into effect.”
The commission will publish its “full determination on its website no later than 60 working days after the date of the determination” and after allowing the parties involved the opportunity to request that confidential information be removed from the published version.