The Competition and Markets Authority has provisionally cleared the proposed merger between Tesco and Booker in a statement published this morning.
In its’ statement, the CMA finds that “the merger may not be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets for goods or services in the UK.”
The statement details the consideration of potential impacts in the market, looking at the buying power of the merged entity and the consequences for wholesalers, retailers and consumers of the merger. While the CMA notes that the merged entity would be “more efficient and a stronger competitor”, it concludes that does not give rise to a substantial lessening of competition.
There is also consideration in the CMA statement of two areas where there are Booker owned and operated stores near Tesco stores. In both of these cases, it was provisionally found that competition concerns are not likely to arise in the local area.
The merger was initially announced in January, with the CMA beginning their investigation in June. The CMA has until 26 December to come to a final decision on the merger.
ACS submitted evidence to phase one of the CMA investigation earlier this year. The submission can be found here: https://cdn.acs.org.uk/public/lobbying/cma_phase_one_submission_-_final.pdf
