Competition watchdog blocks Danish Crown meat merger plan

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A planned merger between European meat product group Danish Crown and smaller Danish rival Tican was blocked by competition authorities on Monday after a seven-month review, Danish Crown said in a statement.

Danish Crown CEO Kjeld Johannsen said the companies had consulted the authority on what it would take for the merger to go through, but it had not satisfied the regulator's requirements.

Both companies are co-owned by farmers and slaughter almost 24 million pigs between them a year.

They announced the deal as a merger in February. Danish Crown is the larger company, with annual revenues of 58 billion Danish crowns (5.57 billion pounds), ten times those of Tican.

Danish online media outlet Finans wrote that German food company Tonnies could now try to buy Tican.

Tican supplies Kirsty's premade food and Direct bacon brands mainly to UK markets, including Sainsbury's stores and Walmart's Asda shops.

(Reporting by Alexander Tange; Editing by Keith Weir)