OREANDA-NEWS. Today, the European Commission has granted conditional clearance for Cargill to acquire Archer Daniels Midland’s (NYSE: ADM) chocolate business in Europe. Together with the approvals granted earlier by the US Department of Justice, this completes the regulatory approval process for the global deal.

The acquisition underlines Cargill’s commitment to meeting customer needs and constitutes a milestone for our chocolate growth strategy. It is strengthening our position as a leading player in the cocoa and chocolate industry. The new organisation will deepen our service to chocolate customers and expand our footprint and production capability significantly. Customers will benefit from a combined business with a broad range of high quality cocoa and chocolate products for confectionery, bakery, dairy, and other applications.

We are looking forward to soon be welcoming more than 650 new colleagues and to bring together people with a deep passion, experience and commitment to producing excellent chocolate in our extended chocolate operations.

After closing of the transaction, three chocolate, compound and liquor production sites in North America - Milwaukee (Wis.), Hazleton (Penn.) and Georgetown (Ontario) and three chocolate and compound production sites in Europe - Liverpool (U.K.), Manage (Belgium) and Mannheim (Germany) will transfer to Cargill together with the Ambrosia®, Merckens® and Schokinag® brands.

Addressing the European Commission’s competition concerns, Cargill has agreed to divest ADM’s industrial chocolate production facility in Mannheim, Germany. The facility will be kept as a separate entity with its own interim management until an agreement with a prospective buyer has been made.

Growing our business goes hand in hand with our commitment to securing the long-term viability of a strong and sustainable cocoa bean supply chain. With the Cargill Cocoa Promise, we are supporting progress towards a transparent cocoa supply chain, enabling farmers to achieve better livelihoods and delivering a sustainable supply of cocoa and chocolate products to meet the growing demands from customers.