EU clears Mars’ acquisition of Kellanova without conditions

BRUSSELS — The European Commission has unconditionally approved Mars’ $36 billion acquisition of Kellanova following an in-depth review of the transaction.

The Commission said it had concluded that the deal — which combines Mars’ confectionery and pet food brands with Kellanova’s snacks and cereals — would not significantly increase the merged entity’s bargaining power vis-à-vis retailers.

The EU executive referred the deal, which was originally announced in Aug. 2024, for an in-depth review in June.

“We looked very carefully at this deal to make sure that Mars would not gain extra power over retailers,” said Teresa Ribera, the executive vice president of the Commission responsible for competition. “Our review found no evidence that this risk exists.”

The Commission’s probe focused on whether the expanded portfolio would allow Mars to extract higher prices from supermarkets by leveraging a so-called “basket effect” — but determined that there was insufficient evidence to support this theory.

Following its review, the Commission determined that, because products like Pringles and chocolate bars are typically “impulsive and infrequent purchases,” consumers are unlikely to change supermarkets based on their availability.