On October 13 2011 the Croatian Competition Agency cleared the extraterritorial concentration arising from a joint venture between AGRANA Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft (Austria) and RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria Aktiengesellschaft (Austria).
Although the transaction will have an effect on the Croatian market – in particular on the markets for coloured fruit juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate and coloured fruit juice compounds – it raised no competition concerns.
The agency's decision stated that there was no horizontal overlapping between the parties due to the fact that AGRANA and RWA, although active on the same fruit market, feature different production structures and are active in different market segments. In Croatia, AGRANA is active only regarding coloured fruit concentrate and RWA only regarding apple juice concentrate and coloured juice compounds. Until 2011, both parties sold fruit juice directly to buyers in insignificant volumes. Further, they have no affiliated undertakings registered in Croatia.
Therefore, the agency concluded that the intended transaction should not be prohibited pursuant to competition law.
For further information on this topic please contact Gabriele Wahl Cesarec at Petres & Cvirn by telephone (+385 1 4813 244), fax (+385 1 4813 073) or email ([email protected]).
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