The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the proposed takeover of large parts of the agribusiness activities and the production of seeds and feedstuffs of Getreide AG by Agravis Raiffeisen AG and its Danish cooperation partner Danish Agro a.m.b.a. (Denmark). Due to competition concerns expressed by the Bundeskartellamt the parties to the merger had already previously withdrawn a total of nine locations from the takeover package.

The original plans included the acquisition of more than 70 agribusiness locations of Getreide AG based in the federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Saxony as well as the acquisition of several production sites and Getreide AG's terminal in the port of Rostock. A turnover of around 1 billion euros was achieved at these locations.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "The merger project provides Agravis with very powerful market positions throughout the northern half of eastern Germany. In the regions of Magdeburg, Gransee, Parchim and Brandenburg/Havel the merger would even have significantly impeded competition. With the changes made to the original project we have ensured that local farmers will continue to have sufficient alternatives in the sale of their field crops and the purchase of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, plant protection products and seeds."

In large parts of Saxony-Anhalt and in particular in the north-western part of Brandenburg the merger would have resulted in the creation of dominant positions and effective competition would have been significantly impeded. Due to the Bundeskartellamt's competition concerns the parties to the merger restructured their original plans and excluded Landhandel GmbH Gransee, a subsidiary of Getreide AG which is active in this region, from the project. The locations that remain with Getreide AG are Fehrbellin, Glöwen, Gransee, Pritzwalk, Alt Ruppin, Altlüdersdorf and Neuhof as well as the locations Parchim und Magdeburg, all of which Getreide AG will continue to operate.

In the course of the proceedings the Bundeskartellamt conducted extensive investigations in the agricultural trading and feed production sectors. At the retail level the agricultural trading sector includes the markets for the acquisition of grain and oil seeds and for the sale of fertilizers, plant protection, seeds and feedstuffs. All of these markets are defined as regional markets. The regional markets affected in this case were Rostock, Mölln, Parchim, Gransee, Uckermark/Oderbruch, Magdeburg, Leipzig and Brandenburg/Havel. In particular the market areas of Parchim, Gransee, Magdeburg and Brandenburg/Havel were seen as problematic as dominant positions would have been created or strengthened mainly in the markets for the acquisition of grain and oil seeds. Also in the markets for the sale of fertilizers and plant protection products dominant positions would have been created in some cases. The Bundeskartellamt has not allowed Agravis to strengthen its market position at all in Magdeburg and Brandenburg/Havel, and only to a limited extent in Parchim and Gransee.