LONDON, ENGLAND — The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found that British food manufacturer Boparan’s proposed purchase of a ForFarmers feed mill in Burston, England, could lead to competition concerns.

In a report released earlier this week, the CMA said the proposed merger, which also includes Boparan acquiring a ForFarmers feed mill in Radstock, England, “gives rise to a realistic prospect of substantial lessening of competition in the supply meat poultry feed to third-party customers in a number of local areas … and could lead to a foreclosure of poultry meat producers in the same local areas.”

The poultry feed manufacturing companies have five working days to respond to phase 1 of the CMA investigation. If they fail to address the CMA’s concerns, the UK regulator said it will launch phase 2 of its investigation. 

The CMA noted in its report that it did not find competition concerns related to the acquisition of the mill in Radstock.

Several years ago, the companies had discussed combining their feed operations, which includes 19 mills, in a joint venture but the plan was dropped in 2023 following a CMA investigation. 

Netherlands-based ForFarmers, one of Europe’s largest feed producers, has been in transaction mode in the past several years, merging with companies in Germany and Poland while selling its business in Belgium.