Brussels, Sept 19 - The European Commission on Friday extended the deadline for its competition review of plans by Dutch dairy groups Friesland Foods and Campina to merge.
The deadline was pushed back to Dec. 1 from Nov. 24, the European Union's top competition regulator said in a daily list of planned mergers under review.
The companies and the EU executive agreed mutually it would be useful to extend the deadline, a Commission spokesman said, declining to elaborate. In July, the Commission had opened an in-depth investigation into the merger plan, saying the deal could raise cheese and dairy product prices.
The transaction would create one of the world's largest dairy companies, with combined sales of 9.1 billion euros ($13.20 billion).
It would rank either third or fourth in the world by dairy sales after Switzerland's Nestle SA and France's Groupe Danone SA, Friesland has said.