The owner of Schwartz wants Knorr and Hellmann's. Will the UK watchdog agree?
The UK competition watchdog, the CMA, must decide by 11 November whether McCormick can join with Unilever's food business without a full inquiry.
What happened
There has been strong progress on regulatory approvals, with filings submitted on schedule and clear momentum across jurisdictions, reinforcing our confidence in a timely closing.
The UK competition watchdog must rule by . The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began its first check of McCormick’s plan to join with Unilever’s food business on . By it must either let the deal go ahead or send it to a longer, full inquiry. The law allows that date to move only in limited cases. The CMA first asked the public for views from to .
The deal joins well-known kitchen brands. McCormick sells spices, herbs and sauces, in the UK under the Schwartz name. Unilever’s food business includes Knorr and Hellmann’s. Unilever will get $15.7 billion in cash and 9.9% of the new company. Both firms expect to finish the deal by mid-2027.
On Unilever said there had been “strong progress on regulatory approvals”, with papers sent to regulators on time. It did not name the CMA. On the CMA’s case page still showed no decision.
: Deadline for phase 1 decision
CMA case page, McCormick / Unilever merger inquiry
Sources: Unilever (2), GOV.UK, GOV.UK, US SEC (2)
The Pattern
We looked for cases where the CMA checked a planned food deal in which a company bought part of another firm’s business, both sold the same kind of product, and the deal was not yet done. We found eight since 2018. In six of them the CMA said yes at its first check with no conditions, each time before the deadline.
Show the other 6 cases
The Read
By , working day 32 of 40, the CMA had still not ruled on this deal. In five past food deals with no answer by that day, it cleared three with no conditions and let one go because the market was too small. The fifth, T&L Sugars and Tereos, hit a problem on the last day. Across all eight past deals, six were cleared with no conditions, and the three quickest, at 17 to 26 working days, were all a yes.
There are reasons for doubt. Each of the eight past deals was for a plant or one part of a business, and most were British. McCormick is buying most of Unilever’s food business around the world, and both sell seasonings and sauces. Seven of the eight came before , when the CMA promised faster and more predictable merger checks. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission ended its waiting period early on for Unilever’s filing to buy shares in McCormick. McCormick’s own filing to buy the food business is not on that list.
Disclaimer
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