IN THE NEWS

Competition Commission provisionally clears waste merger

The Competition Commission has provisionally cleared the completed joint venture between Tradebe and Sita. Both companies provide healthcare risk waste services in various parts of the UK. The Commission has provisionally concluded that, prior to the joint venture, SRCL, the largest supplier, represented the main competition to the parties, while the parties did not provide strong competition for each other, and that SRCL will continue to provide effective competition to the joint venture going forward. The Commission has also provisionally concluded that some customers would benefit from lower prices due to efficiencies resulting from the merger. Click here.

EU

Mergers

  • The European Commission has sent a Statement of Objections to Ahlstrom Corporation, Munksjö Oyj and Munksjö AB in relation to their October 2012 notification of the merger of their abrasive paper backings businesses. The Commission is concerned that the parties provided misleading information with regard to the size of the market for abrasive paper backings. The Commission considers that such behaviour, if established, would be in breach of the companies' obligation to include their true best estimates of the markets in question in the notification and could result in a fine of up to 1% of turnover. Click here.

UK

Competition Commission

  • The Competition Commission has published further working papers as part of its market investigation into payday lending. Click here.
  • The Competition Commission has published an addendum to its provisional findings relating to the completed acquisition by Breedon Aggregates Limited of certain Scottish assets of Aggregate Industries UK Limited. The full provisional findings were published on 7 February 2014, but, following publication, it was brought to the Commission's attention that the location of one competing site was incorrect and further investigation was carried out. However, the new information has not caused the Commission to alter its provisional findings. Click here.

Other

  • The Competition and Markets Authority has published for public consultation draft rules of procedure for CMA panel member groups. Click here.

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