The CMA is investigating the completed acquisition by Bradford-headquartered supermarket giant Wm Morrison Supermarkets Ltd of certain assets of Mccoll’s Retail Group Plc, Martin McColl Limited, Clark Retail Limited, Dillons Stores Limited, Smile Stores Limited, Charnwait Management Limited, and Martin Retail Group Limited.
The regulator outlined the details of its probe yesterday, saying it was due to concerns that the deal could result, or may be expected to result in, a substantial lessening of competition.
A CMA spokesperson said: “We’re aware of the circumstances surrounding Morrisons buying McColl’s convenience stores.
“Now that the businesses have told us that they intend to submit the deal for our review, we will conduct our investigation as promptly as possible.
“Imposing an interim enforcement order is standard practice where a deal has already completed – but we’ve worked closely with Morrisons to ensure that it can provide the support that McColl’s needs to continue to operate during our investigation.”
In short, the enforcement order, instructs both parties to continue to compete as they did previously, while the CMA investigation is conducted.
The Bradford-headquartered supermarket invested £182m to snap up the 1,160 storesMcColl’s newsagent chain’s, heading off a rival bid by Asda.
The newsagents equity value was valued at around £3m earlier this month while senior creditors were owed some £170m, according to documents from administrators PwC.
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