NEW YORK – This past summer, European authorities took just six weeks to approve Barry Callebaut's $950 million purchase of Petra Foods' cocoa business, a deal that created the world's largest cocoa company with a quarter of the $10 billion market.
The European Commission decided the deal did not require deeper look partly because two other firms provided stiff enough competition in the niche industry.
Now, those two rivals, Cargill Inc CARG.UL and Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM.N: Quote), are hammering out the final terms of a deal in which Cargill would buy ADM's cocoa operations, sources said.
The move threatens to concentrate at least half of the global 4-million tonne market in the hands of Callebaut and Cargill.
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