Mauri Seeks Clearance To Acquire Farmers Mill

The Commerce Commission has received a clearance application from George Weston Foods (NZ) Limited, trading as Mauri New Zealand, to acquire the wheat milling and storage assets used by Farmers Mill Limited to carry on its business.

Both Farmers Mill and Mauri mill wheat into flour and supply this flour to customers across New Zealand.

Mauri operates flour mills in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Mauri supplies flour in bulk to large users of flour such as industrial food manufacturers and bagged flour to wholesalers, bakeries, and supermarkets. Mauri’s flour is also used by the George Weston Foods’ Bakery division to produce breads and bakery goods under such brands as Tip Top and Big Ben. In addition to flour, Mauri also supplies broll, which is a by-product of the wheat milling process. Broll is most commonly used as an input into certain types of animal feed.

Farmers Mill operates a flour mill in Timaru and, like Mauri, also supplies bulk and bagged flour to industrial food manufacturers, bakeries, and some retailers. The owners of Farmers Mill are wheat growers and the majority of the wheat that it currently mills comes from its owners. For the same reasons as Mauri, Farmers Mill also supplies broll.

A public version of the clearance application can be found on the Commission’s case register.

Background
We will only give clearance to a proposed merger if we are satisfied the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.

Further information explaining how the Commission assesses a merger application is available on our website.

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