Question

Could you give me an example of a proposed merger or acquisition that was blocked by regulators; or a business that was broken up by regulators. Cite news stories, agency white papers, or news releases, and then can you explain how the regulators applied the law to the facts to reach their conclusion.

Answer 1

Sainsbury's-Asda merger blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

On 25 April 2019, it was announced that the merger between Sainsbury’s and Asda was not allowed by the CMA - Britain’s competition watchdog, as the £7bn deal threatened to raise prices for consumers. The supermarkets wanted to merge to become UK's biggest supermarket chain and reduce their costs.

CMA conducted a year-long investigation and came to a conclusion that the deal would lessen competition at the national and local level leading to higher prices for consumers along with other disadvantages for them such as reduction in quality of products and a poor shopping experience across the United Kingdom. The decision by CMA has been perceived by trade unions as good for jobs. Supermarket suppliers had welcomed the ruling too.

Mike Coupe, Chief Executive, Sainsbury’s, had promised that the deal would provide shoppers a 10% cut in the price of popular foods, and said that blocking the deal was effectively taking £1bn out of customers’ pockets. The CMA’s analysis led to the inference that the merger would definitely lead to reduced competition across the UK, not only in the areas where Sainsbury’s and Asda stores overlap. The CMA conducted three large surveys of customers, polling more than 60,000 shoppers and motorists to take their views. It also reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents submitted by the two grocers, their rivals and suppliers.