Mars' $36 billion Kellanova deal faces EU antitrust investigation, sources say: Reuters

Mars' $36 billion bid for Pringles maker Kellanova is set to face a full-scale EU antitrust investigation, people close to the matter said on Wednesday, a move that could require the candy giant to divest assets to address competition concerns.
The European Commission, which acts as the antitrust watchdog in the 27-country bloc, is concerned about Mars' high market share in some products in some European Union countries, the sources said.
Family-owned Mars is unlikely to offer remedies to assuage such concerns during the EU competition enforcer's preliminary review of the deal, which ends on June 25, the sources said.
The Commission declined to comment. Mars and Kellanova did not respond to repeated emails for comment.
Mars announced the deal in August last year that will bring together brands from M&M's and Snickers to Pringles and Pop-Tarts under one roof.
There has been a wave of consolidation in the U.S. packaged food sector as companies seek scale to weather the impact of inflation-weary consumers cutting back on spending and shifting to private label brands.
European retailers have voiced concerns about the deal, citing the power of large international suppliers of branded packaged goods and the high concentration levels in products such as breakfast cereals, carbonated drinks, confectionery and frozen desserts.
They say such high market shares give large suppliers the power to impose restrictions and practices to retailers' detriment.

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They concluded that Microsoft's broader work for the court could continue but that Khan's email should be suspended. He switched his correspondence to another email account, said a person who has communicated with him. Sara Elizabeth Dill, a lawyer who specializes in sanctions compliance, said the Trump administration was increasingly using sanctions and executive orders to target international institutions, universities and other organizations, forcing companies to make hard choices about how to comply. 'This is a quagmire and places these corporations in a very difficult position,' she said. How tech companies with global services respond is especially important, she added, 'as the broad repercussions are what people and organizations are primarily worried about.' Microsoft and other U.S. companies have sought to reassure European customers. On Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella visited the Netherlands and announced new 'sovereign solutions' for European institutions, including legal and data security protections for 'a time of geopolitical volatility.' Amazon and Google have also announced policies aimed at European customers. Still, many institutions are exploring alternatives. In the Netherlands, the 'subject of digital autonomy and sovereignty has the full attention of the central government,' Eddie van Marum, the state secretary of digitalization in the Ministry of Interior Affairs, said in a statement. The country is working with European providers on new solutions, he said. In Denmark, the digital ministry is testing alternatives to Microsoft Office. In Germany, the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein is also taking steps to cut its use of Microsoft. In the European Union, officials have announced plans to spend billions of euros on new artificial intelligence data centers and cloud computing infrastructure that rely less on U.S. companies. Groothuis, the Dutch member of the European Parliament, said lawmakers in Brussels were discussing policy changes that would encourage governments to favor buying tech services from EU-based companies. 'The situation is not tenable, and we see a big push from European governments to become more independent and more resilient,' said Andy Yen, CEO of Proton. European tech companies see an opportunity to win customers from their U.S. rivals. Cloud service providers like Intermax Group, based in the Netherlands, and Exoscale, based in Switzerland, said they had seen a jump in new business. 'A few years ago, everyone was saying, 'They're our trusted partners,'' Ludo Baauw, Intermax's CEO, said of U.S. tech companies. 'There's been a radical change.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2025