Barratt’s £2.5bn merger with Redrow now hinges on sale of 10 houses August 8, 2024 A £2.5bn merger between housebuilders Barratt and rival Redrow now hinges on the sale of 10 houses after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the deal could create local competition issues. In a ruling issued this morning the watchdog said the deal, announced in March 2024, could lead to a “substantial lessening of competition” [...]
Motorists still ‘paying too much’ for fuel, says competition watchdog July 26, 2024 Drivers are still paying too much for their fuel, with retail margins “significantly” above historic levels, according to the UK competition watchdog.
CMA slaps pharma firms with £260m in fines for hiking prices for NHS July 15, 2021 The UK’s competition watchdog has slapped drug companies with fines totalling more than £260m for hiking prices for the NHS. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said prices of “life-saving” hydrocortisone tablets had risen by over 10,000 per cent. The price hike equated to the NHS being charged £80 for a single pack of tablets [...]
Pets at Home and CVS shares plunge following probe announcement March 12, 2024 The competition watchdog is launching an investigation into the UK’s veterinary industry, amid concerns pet owners are not getting value for money.
Scantily clad CMA guidelines will do little to fend off greenwashing on our high streets and in our banks October 5, 2021 restore it. The term greenwashing wasn’t invented by the environmentally active Gen Z or even the older cohort of millenials. It dates back to 1986 when American environmentalist Jay Westerveld used it to describe hotels asking their customers to reuse towels to limit water usage while they abused neighbouring nature areas for their premises. Washing [...]
Competition watchdog probes Barratt’s multi-billion pound Redrow deal March 15, 2024 The competition watchdog is to investigate Barratt’s £2.5bn acquisition of rival housebuilder Redrow.
Competition watchdog launches formal probe of Vodafone and Three tie-up January 26, 2024 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a formal investigation into the merger of Vodafone and Three. Back last June, Vodafone and CK Hutchinson, owner of Three, announced their long-awaited UK £15bn merger. The deal would combine the companies’ telecommunications operations under one single network provider. The CMA today has started its Phase 1 [...]
Regulator says Adobe’s Figma acquisition could ‘harm’ UK digital design sector November 28, 2023 The UK’s competition watchdog has provisionally found that Adobe’s proposed acquisition of Figma could harm the digital design sector.
Game over no more: Microsoft’s Activison tie-up given provisional OK by regulator September 22, 2023 Microsoft's restructured acquisition of Activision Blizzard "opens the door" to the deal being cleared, Britain's antitrust regulator said on Friday.
CMA to investigate British Airways and Ryanair over lockdown flight refunds June 9, 2021 The UK’s markets watchdog has begun an investigation into British Airways and Ryanair today, to find whether they broke the law in not offering refunds for flights struck by lockdown laws. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will be looking at a potential breach in consumers’ legal rights when they were left out of pocket [...]