The competition watchdog has confirmed that the £7bn takeover of supermarket chain Morrisons by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice can go ahead.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a US private equity firm, won an auction to buy the Bradford-based supermarket last year but it also owns Motor Fuel Group.
Motor Fuel Group is the UK’s largest independent petrol station operator, with 921 forecourts.
This prompted concerns that the takeover of Morrisons – which operates 335 fuel outlets in England, Scotland and Wales – would give CD&R more than 1,200 of the UK’s 8,000 petrol stations.
The Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation in January looking at whether this would affect prices for consumers.
But the CMA said it has now formally accepted an offer from CD&R to sell 87 of its MFG-run forecourts in areas of concern in order to push the takeover through.
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It added that the proposal appeared “to be suitable to restore the loss of competition brought about by the deal across each of the 121 local areas in which the concerns were identified”.
The CMA said that, while the number of sites proposed for sale is lower than the number of areas previously highlighted, the sale of some petrol stations will address concerns in multiple areas.
