Private equity player KKR reportedly circling Asda following Sainsbury’s deal setback February 24, 2019 US private equity house KKR is reportedly mulling a bid for Asda after a ruling last week by the competition regulator that could stymie its proposed tie-up with fellow big four supermarket Sainsbury’s. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said last week that a deal between the two supermarkets could lead to "a substantial lessening [...]
‘Let us charge more for energy’, companies urge as they are forced to bail out a string of small suppliers February 19, 2019 The government must let energy suppliers charge more as they are left picking up the pieces from a string of failed rivals, two major players have said. Big Six energy firm Eon and Britain's largest challenger Ovo today called on the the competition regulator to change the way the price cap for prepayment metres works. They [...]
Big Four accountants push back against breakup proposals February 7, 2019 The Big Four accountancy firms have fired back at the competition regulator’s proposal to break-up their UK operations. In their responses to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) outlines for shaking up the audit market, Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC all resisted a suggested split. David Barnes, managing director for public policy at Deloitte UK, [...]
Watchdog delays final report on Sainsbury’s-Asda supermarket merger February 11, 2019 The UK's competition watchdog today extended its probe into the supermarket tie-up between Sainsbury's and Asda by eight weeks. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had decided to delay the publication of its report to give it enough time to “reach a fully reasoned final decision” on the £12bn merger. An inquiry group [...]
Why bombed-out Sainsbury’s leads the FTSE 100 May 10, 2019 Hammered since the Asda merger was blocked, our head of markets explains the surge to a three-week high. Rather than fight the decision of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Sainsbury (LSE:SBRY) and Asda decided to call off the wedding. This leaves a huge strategic question mark over where Sainsbury's goes next. Not surprisingly, the [...]
Roche faces further delay in $4.3bn takeover of Spark Therapeutics June 10, 2019 Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche’s $4.3bn (£3.4bn) acquisition of US gene therapy firm Spark Therapeutics has been delayed again amid increased scrutiny from US and UK regulators. Read more: Big pharma: Invidior launches generic version of own drugs to beat copycat Roche said both firms had received a request from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [...]
Sainsbury’s: Buyers bet that shares have seen the low April 26, 2019 By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. Trading within a whisker of a record low, a lot of bad news is already written into the share price. Yesterday’s humiliation of Sainsbury (J) (LSE:SBRY) and its boss Mike Coupe has not stopped investors from piling into the supermarket giant’s shares in the belief the chain can bounce [...]
FTSE 100 leaps after WHO eases coronavirus fears January 24, 2020 The FTSE 100 stormed ahead today, more than clawing back the losses incurred yesterday as investors’ fears over the spread of the coronavirus mounted. The World Health Organisation yesterday stopped short of declaring the outbreak in China an emergency for the rest of the world. European equities gained in response today, before posting further jumps [...]
Asda sales dip on Easter timing as IPO interest mounts May 16, 2019 Asda reported a fall in like-for-like sales today following the later timing of Easter, amid growing City speculation over a possible floatation for the Walmart-owned grocery giant. Like-for-like sales at the group tumbled 1.1 per cent as a result of the holiday shift in the three months to the end of March, Walmart said today, [...]
Watchdog to launch in-depth probe into Paypal’s iZettle takeover December 5, 2018 The UK’s competition watchdog plans to launch an in-depth investigation into PayPal’s takeover of iZettle amid fears it could drive up prices for customers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it is concerned the deal could negatively impact future competition for mobile payment services, which it said could result in higher prices or lower quality service [...]