Federal Cartel Office prohibits takeover of Vion slaughterhouses by Tönnies
Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office: " The takeover of the Vion sites would have significantly strengthened Tönnies' market position, to the detriment of farmers and the remaining smaller competitors in the affected regions. In addition to its already dominant position in pig slaughter and processing in Germany, Tönnies would also have gained a leading position in the cattle sector. The takeover would reduce the alternative options for producers and buyers, thus expanding the Tönnies Group's market position and its scope for action. Disadvantages would also have arisen nationwide for buyers of slaughter products. "
The Tönnies Group, headquartered in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, is a family-owned company specializing in the slaughter and butchering of pigs and cattle, the utilization of slaughter by-products, and the production of meat products from pork, sows, beef, and poultry. The Tönnies Group employs more than 20,000 people and generated global sales of approximately €7.8 billion in the 2023 fiscal year.
The seller, the Vion Food Group, is based in Boxtel (Netherlands) and is an internationally active manufacturer of meat, meat products, and plant-based (meat) alternatives. It has production sites and trading companies in the Netherlands, Germany, and other European countries. In 2023, it generated sales of approximately €5.1 billion.
In June 2024, Vion announced that it would largely withdraw from its existing business activities in Germany and sell its sites there. As part of this withdrawal, the Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission have already examined and approved several merger proposals relating to existing Vion sites since the beginning of 2024.
The proposed acquisition would impact various, competitively distinct areas of slaughtering and the sale of slaughtered meat. This includes the collection of cattle and pigs for slaughter, the slaughter itself, the cutting, and the sale of slaughtered products. The slaughtered meat and slaughter by-products are further processed and distributed within a complex value chain, including into meat products.
For collection and slaughter, the competitively relevant markets must be defined regionally according to the respective catchment areas of the slaughterhouses. Radii of 200 to 300 kilometers driving distance were used as a basis. However, for the further processing and sale of meat products, these are at least nationwide markets.
Based on extensive investigations of competitors and customers as well as the evaluation of the recording structures of slaughter animals using recording data from slaughterhouses and federal and state databases, the Federal Cartel Office has come to the conclusion that the merger would lead to the creation or strengthening of a dominant position for Tönnies in several regional slaughter markets in southern and eastern Germany.
Vion is currently the market leader in cattle slaughtering in southern Germany. The plants in Waldkraiburg and Buchloe are exclusively engaged in cattle slaughter and butchering. The Crailsheim slaughterhouse is a combined operation where both cattle and pigs are slaughtered and partially butchered. Tönnies already operates slaughterhouses in neighboring areas: Altenburg and Kempten (cattle) and Weißenfels (pigs).
After taking over the Vion sites, Tönnies would achieve market shares of well over 40 percent in the catchment areas of the slaughterhouses in Buchloe, Waldkraiburg and Kempten, far ahead of the remaining, much smaller competitors.
Furthermore, the merger would strengthen Tönnies' existing dominant position in the regional pig slaughter market, which is defined by the catchment area of the Weißenfels slaughterhouse. Tönnies is already the market leader in pigs by a significant margin and would further expand this position by acquiring the Crailsheim site, whose coverage area overlaps with the market area surrounding the Weißenfels site.
Through the merger, Tönnies would also further expand its market leadership in Germany in the sales markets for the marketing of pigs (whole animals or pig halves) and pork carcasses, and would become the market leader in the sales market for the marketing of cattle (whole animals or pig halves).
Other factors contributing to Tönnies' dominant market position included barriers to market entry for potential new competitors, economies of scale in accessing collection and sales markets, Tönnies' connections and interdependencies with other companies, the vertical integration and financial strength of the Tönnies Group, and the limited alternative options available to farmers as producers. These factors are having an impact in a market where the supply of animals for slaughter is declining more sharply than the demand for meat.
The parties were informed of the competition concerns in March 2025 in the form of a hearing letter. Subsequently, at the end of April, the parties submitted proposals for commitments aimed at addressing the competition concerns. The proposals concerned the sale and leasing of sites to purchasers designated by Tönnies. However, from the perspective of the Federal Cartel Office, these commitments were not suitable to prevent the emergence or strengthening of a dominant position in the affected markets. Both the specific terms of the commitments and the lack of independence of the planned purchasers from the Tönnies Group spoke against this.
The Federal Cartel Office's decision is not yet final. An appeal can be filed against it, which would then be decided by the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
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