The Bundeskartellamt has today cleared the merger between the Reinert Group (H. & E. Reinert Holding GmbH & Co. KG) and the Kemper Group (H. Kemper GmbH & Co. KG /P.F.C. Pro Food Company GmbH & Co. KG). The joint venture is to operate in future under the name “The Family Butchers”. The merger between the two medium-sized companies will create the second-largest producer of processed meat and sausage products in several product categories in Germany. The market leader in many areas of meat production is the Tönnies Group, which also has its own slaughterhouses.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Even after the merger customers and suppliers will still have enough options to choose from. In spite of increasing concentration in the sector over the past few years there is still a wide range of medium-sized processed meat and sausage producers in Germany. The joint market shares of Kemper and Reinert on the various meat processing markets are no higher than 10 to 20 percent. The food retailers also have high buyer power and in some cases have their own meat processing plants.”

Like the Kemper Group, the Reinert Group is also active in the production and sale of processed meat and sausage products. Neither of them operate their own slaughterhouses or meat cutting plants. In 2018 the turnover of the Reinert Group amounted to approx. 300 million euros in the EU and approx. 194 million euros in Germany; the turnover of the Kemper Group in the same year amounted to approx. 415 million euros in the EU and approx. 330 million euros in Germany. The two companies are particularly strong in the cooked meat and aspic/jellied poultry meat submarkets. They also specialise in the production of raw sausage.

Overcapacities in the meat processing industry, especially in sausage manufacture, along with the decline in demand for meat products, have increased the competitive pressure. The food retail companies have high buyer power and, like Edeka, Rewe and Kaufland in some cases operate their own meat plants. The new joint venture is also still behind the market leader Tönnies on several markets. Tönnies is active across the entire meat production chain. Furthermore, there are still a number of larger medium-sized processed meat and sausage producers in Germany that specialise in specific segments of the market.