Netherlands: Jacobs Douwe Egberts venture receives conditional approval

The European Commission has announced that it has conditionally approved the proposed creation of a joint venture between D.E. Master Blenders 1753 B.V. (DEMB) and Mondelez International Inc.

The new joint "pure-play" company to be known as Jacobs Douwe Egberts was announced by the two companies in May of last year.

Among the conditions for the approval, the EC said that that Mondelez would need to sell its Carte Noire business across the European Economic Area, while DEMB should sell its Merrild business across the EEA and license its Senseo brand in Austria. The Senseo brand would be licensed for five years for re-branding purposes, followed by a five-year period in which neither the joint venture nor the purchaser would be able to use the Senseo brand in Austria.

However, the Commission did not impose any conditions relating to DEMB's Senseo single-serve system and Mondelez's Tassimo single-serve system, saying that the joint venture would compete against strong competitor Nestle, which owns the Dolce Gusto and Nespresso systems.

Source: European Commission