Sanitarium is proposing to acquire Nestle’s Vita Brits brand, a deal the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched a review of to determine if it will impact competition and lead to higher prices.
The regulator is seeking opinions from interested parties after Australian Health & Nutrition Association Limited, trading as Sanitarium, proposed to acquire the Vita Brits branding, intellectual property and goodwill from Nestle Australia.
Sanitarium owns Weet-Bix, a wheat biscuit breakfast cereal brand, and also manufactures Vita Brits for Nestle. Vita Brits is part of Nestle’s Uncle Tobys banner and is physically similar to Weet-Bix.
The ACCC believes the two companies overlap in the national wholesale supply of wheat biscuit cereal products. It has asked for views on how closely Weet-Bix and Vita Brits compete in the supply of breakfast cereals and the likely impact on prices of the acquisition.
The competition watchdog will relieve submissions until October 4 and is expected to decide on the merger by late November.
