Britain's competition regulator said on Tuesday it had cleared supermarket group Asda's £611 million acquisition of Co-operative Group's Arthur Foodstores.
Asda's purchase of Britain's seventh biggest supermarket chain Co-op's 132 petrol stations and attached stores, which was completed in October, will therefore not be referred to an in-depth Phase 2 investigation.
Phase 1 Investigation
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which had started a Phase 1 investigation on the deal earlier this year, said in March the deal could lead to higher prices or less choice in some parts of the country.
It had said the deal raises concerns in 13 locations across the United Kingdom in each of which the merging businesses currently compete for customers and would not face sufficient competition after the merger.
Asda, which is owned by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital, had submitted undertakings in March to address the regulator's concerns to avoid a Phase 2 investigation.
Acquisition
Asda said on Tuesday that it is acquiring petrol station operator EG Group's UK and Ireland business to create a company with combined revenues of nearly £30 billion (€34.62 billion).
Asda, said that the move would see the company acquire 350 petrol filling station (PFS) sites and over 1,000 food-to-go locations – through an affiliate of its parent company, Bellis Acquisition Company 3 Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Asda Group.
EG Group will retain approximately 30 PFS sites in the UK for wider group development and which will not form part of the transaction, it added.
Read More: UK Supermarket Asda To Buy EG Group
News by Reuters, additional reporting and edited by Donna Ahern, Checkout. For more retail stories, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
