Morrisons £190 million McColl’s takeover set to be greenlit

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to greenlight the £190 million takeover of convenience store chain McColl’s by Morrisons should the supermarket agree to offload 28 of the high street retailer’s stores to address competition concerns.

In July this year the CMA launched an investigation into takeover, and after a phase one investigation the watchdog found that the deal would “not harm the vast majority of shoppers or other businesses”, but that it raised competition concerns in 35 areas.

The two retailers have accepted the concerns and engaged with the CMA in discussing potential remedies.

Morrisons is set to offload the 28 stores to a purchaser or purchasers to be approved by CMA. This includes 26 stores in England, in areas including Swindon, Lincoln and Brentwood, one store in Perth in Scotland and one store in Newport in Wales.

The watchdog said “While the number of McColl’s stores that Morrisons is proposing to sell is lower than the number of areas in which concerns were identified, the sale of some stores would address the concerns in multiple areas.”

Sorcha O’Carroll, CMA senior director of mergers, said: “Our preliminary view is that the sale of these stores will preserve competition in these local areas and prevent consumers from losing out due to this deal, at a time when shoppers are already facing rising prices.

“If, after reviewing the responses to our consultation, we conclude that the competition issues have been addressed, the deal will be cleared.”

McColl’s operates more than 1,100 sites across England, Scotland and Wales and employs 16,000 staff members on a full and part-time basis.

The supermarket chain already has a partnership with McColl’s through the Morrisons Daily stores.