The take-over agreement was signed in October 2010 but has awaited approval by the EU authorities prior to implementation.

With 3.5 million slaughterings a year, Danish Crown Fleisch is the fourth-largest slaughterhouse in Germany; Steen Sønnichsen will sit at the head of the table as CEO of the company.

He said: "We are pleased that the agreement has now been finalised, and we look forward to getting to know the company in more detail in the coming months. We will now be taking an extremely close look at things in detail to identify anything which may need changing to suit Danish Crown's operations."

Danish Crown Fleisch is located in Essen, (Oldenburg) close to some of Danish Crown's other departments in northern Germany. The company also has slaughterhouse facilities in Cappeln near Oldenburg.

The company has recorded strong growth for a number of years and supplies the retail trade, the processing industry and the export markets. Only German pigs are slaughtered at the two slaughterhouses, and pig deliveries are based on contracts which Danish Crown is now taking over.

"We look forward to continuing the very close working relationship with the German suppliers. A German slaughterhouse for German pigs will offer access to the market, which will benefit the entire group," added Mr Sønnichsen.

Danish Crown Fleisch has two slaughtering facilities (Essen and Cappeln), one distribution company and slaughters 3.5 million pigs a year.