Chile: Setback for FNE as Tribunal clears sale of Nutrabien to Grupo Bimbo

Chile’s Tribunal for the Defense of Free Competition decided to accept the special review appeal filed by Ideal Foods Compañía Alimentos CCU S.A. and CCU Inversiones SA, against a resolution prohibiting a merger operation issued by the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE) regarding the sale of the Nutrabien brand to the Chilean subsidiary of Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo, ruling against the competition regulator and giving the sale a green light.

The operation was approved with the following mitigation measures: Ideal commits to set maximum levels for the sale prices of Nutrabien products for a period of three years after the operation has been agreed; ldeal is committed to maintaining the current quality levels of Nutrabien products for a period of three years after the operation has been completed; ldeal is committed to maintaining its innovation index for a period of two years after the operation has been completed; Ideal undertakes to comply with obligations not to perform, for a period of three years after the operation has been perfected, discounts on Nutrabien products.

In May of this year the FNE decided to block the operation, which had been notified in July 2017. The decision had marked the first merger option to be rejected by the FNE since the new merger control system came into force, in June of 2017.