The competition watchdog has given the green light to global food giant JBS's $1.45 billion takeover of Primo Group, despite industry concerns.
Australia's largest fresh meats processor, JBS, proposed to acquire the country's largest ham, bacon and smallgoods manufacturer, Primo Group in November last year.
Farmers, competing abattoirs, and meat and smallgoods suppliers and customers are worried the acquisition will reduce market competition for fat cattle in northern NSW and Queensland.
But on Friday the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission cleared the deal, stating Primo was not a strong competitive constraint on the Brazilian-listed meat giant.
"JBS's abattoirs in Queensland and Primo's abattoir at Scone are more than 500km apart," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.
But Mr Sims said the ACCC was wary of the impacts of further consolidation of abattoirs and warned it would be monitoring the industry.
JBS has 10 processing plants in Australia, including in Dinmore and Toowoomba in southern Queensland.
Primo operates five processing plants across Australia as well as New Zealand, employing over 3,000 people, including 150 at Wairarapa-based Premier Beehive.
The transaction is set to leverage the Primo Group's growing export operations across Asia, including China, and is consistent with the global strategy of JBS to grow its presence in value-added products.
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