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UK: Sainsbury’s and Asda challenge CMA over merger probe

By  |  December 12, 2018
Sainsbury’s and Asda are seeking to take the competition watchdog to a judicial review – saying they have not been given enough time to argue the case for their merger.

The planned tie-up between Britain’s second and third-biggest supermarkets has been referred for an in-depth investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), expected to be completed by the start of March.

But Sainsbury’s said on Wednesday that the two companies felt the current timetable “does not give the parties or the CMA sufficient time to provide and consider all the evidence given the unprecedented scale and complexity of the case”.

he watchdog responded by saying that giving the extra time the two retailers are asking for would put the its ability to complete its investigation by the required deadline “at very serious risk”.

Full Content: RTE

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