The Commerce Commission has received a clearance application from Heyden Farms Limited, Henergy Cage-Free Limited and Rasmusens Poultry Farms Limited seeking clearance to merge their respective egg production and wholesale supply operations.
All three parties are producers and suppliers of eggs.
Heyden Farms supplies caged eggs, barn laid eggs, and free range eggs from its production facilities in the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. It sells its eggs under the Morning Harvest, Sure as Eggs and New Day Free Range brands, which are owned by the Independent Egg Producers Co-operative (IEP Co-op), of which it is a shareholder. It also produces liquid eggs.
Henergy Cage-Free supplies barn laid eggs from its production facilities near Masterton. It sells its eggs under its Henergy Cage-Free brand.
Rasmusens Poultry Farms Ltd supplies caged eggs and free range eggs from its production facilities near Whanganui. It sells its eggs under the Morning Harvest and New Day brands as part of the IEP Co-op, of which it is a shareholder, as well as the Rasmusens free range brand. It is also involved in the commercial sale of pullets.
In addition to branded eggs, Heyden Farms and Rasmusens Poultry Farms Ltd (via the IEP Co-op) and Henergy Cage-Free each supply eggs on a private label basis to supermarkets.
A public version of the clearance application will be available shortly on the Commission's Commission's case register.
Background
We will give clearance to a proposed merger if we are satisfied that the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.
