On 6 November 2014 Dairy Crest announced that it had agreed to sell the assets of its Dairies operations to Müller UK & Ireland Group LLP (“Müller”).  The sale has already received the approval of Dairy Crest shareholders. 

It remains conditional on the approval of the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”).  The CMA has today announced that it is referring the sale for a phase 2 investigation.  This phase is likely to take a minimum of 24 weeks.

Mark Allen, Chief Executive of Dairy Crest, commented:

“We always anticipated that the sale would be referred to phase 2.  We remain convinced that this is a great deal for our customers and farmers which will help create a more sustainable UK dairy sector at a time when it faces significant challenges.  We remain confident of receiving approval at the end of phase 2.”