U.K. Competition Body Formally Clears Poundland/99p Merger
18 September 2015 - 8:50AM
Dow Jones News
By Ian Walker
LONDON--The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority Friday
formally cleared the planned merger of Poundland Group PLC
(PLND.LN) and 99p Stores Ltd. as it says it believes there will be
no lessening of competition.
The regulator, which announced its preliminary findings in
August, said customers won't face a reduction in choice, value or
quality of service as a result of the merger.
It said that along with single price retailer peer Poundworld,
the companies are each other's closest competitors, but after the
merger they will still face competition from other value retailers
such as B&M, Home Bargains, Wilko and Bargain Buys, along with
Tesco and to an extent Asda.
Poundland said it welcomes the decision and will now move to
complete the acquisition of 99p Stores by the end of September.
"We believe that the acquisition of 99p Stores will be great for
both customers and for shareholders and we will now move to
completion by the end of the month," Chief Executive Jim McCarthy
said.
Poundland announced its plan to buy 99p Stores for 55 million
pounds ($84.43 million) in February, but the CMA aired doubts in
April, calling on the companies to propose measures to show that
the merger wouldn't hurt consumers by reducing competition.
At the time the CMA said the transaction could substantially
reduce competition in 80 areas where the discount retailers overlap
and in a further 12 areas where they will be competitors in the
near future.
On April 17, Poundland said it had decided against taking steps
to ease the concerns of antitrust regulators.
(Jana Simmons contributed to this article.)
Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 18, 2015 02:35 ET (06:35 GMT)
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