Asda’s £611m takeover over of 132 Co-op petrol stations has come under scrutiny from the UK’s competition watchdog over concerns the deal was likely to push up fuel prices in the UK.
After the supermarket snapped up the sites last October the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a Phase 1 investigation at the start of this year amid fears that Asda would “not face sufficient competition after the merger”.
Asda, which is owned by the billionaire Issa brothers and TDR Capital, said that these concerns would not arise in these areas because the merger would enable Asda to “bring its low-cost pricing model to more customers”.
Mohsin Issa, co-owner of Asda said that it is “looking forward” to working constructively with the CMA over the coming days as it considers their findings.
Asda has five days to offer legally binding proposals to the CMA to address the competition concerns identified and if the watchdog does not deem the explanation valid it will launch a an in-depth, Phase 2 investigation.
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