Acquirer(s)
- Woolworths Group Limited
Target(s)
- Beak & Johnston Holdings Pty Ltd
Summary
Woolworths Group Limited (Woolworths), proposes to acquire Beak & Johnston Holdings Pty Ltd (City Kitchen). The proposed acquisition would result in Woolworths indirectly owning 100% of the shares in B&J City Kitchen Pty Ltd (in which Woolworths currently holds a minority interest of 23%) and Beak & Johnston NZ Pty Ltd.
Woolworths
Woolworths is a large Australian and New Zealand retailer that primarily operates supermarkets. Woolworths sells chilled and frozen ready meals in its retail stores.
City Kitchen
City Kitchen is a manufacturer of chilled and frozen ready meals in Australia and New Zealand. City Kitchen supplies these products to supermarkets, petrol and convenience store operators, food producers and food service operators (such as airlines).
The City Kitchen brands that would be included in the proposed acquisition include:
- Strength Meals Co: Chilled and frozen ready meals
- Simmone Logue: gourmet pies, pastries, and cakes
- Pitango: soups and other meals
- Artisano: soups, sauces and other meals
- Pasta Master: Chilled lasagne and pasta ready meals.
Beak & Johnston Pty Ltd (Beak & Johnston Greenacre) does not form part of the proposed acquisition.
Market inquiries
Submissions are invited from interested parties regarding Woolworth’s proposed acquisition of B&J by 5pm on 15 November 2024.
Submissions should be forwarded electronically (preferably in PDF format) to mergers@accc.gov.au.
For more details, please refer to the Market Inquiries Letter published below.
Following 15 November 2024, queries regarding the ACCC’s review may also be addressed to mergers@accc.gov.au.
ACCC correspondence
Document title | Date | |
---|---|---|
Woolworths-City Kitchen - Market Inquiries Letter - 4 November 2024 |
Timeline
Date | Event |
---|---|
ACCC commenced informal review under the Informal Merger Review Process Guidelines. |
|
Closing date for submissions. |
|
Timeline suspended pending receipt of information from the parties. Former provisional date for announcement of ACCC's findings (19 December 2024) is delayed. The ACCC will announce a revised provisional decision date in due course. |