Lookers gives initial undertakings to OFT following merger with Shields

Lookers Motor Group Limited completed the acquisition of Shields Automotive Limited in May. The OFT is now considering whether the deal is within the scope of the Enterprise Act 2002 and if it is whether the merger might lead to a "substantial lessening of competition", in the awkward words of the Act. The OFT's website says:

 

The Office of Fair Trading is considering whether this agreement has resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation has resulted, or may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.

 

On 2 September, Lookers plc and Lookers Motor Group Limited gave undertakings to the OFT that they will keep the businesses separate for the time being. Nothing there to suggest that this is anything more than the OFT looking into the market effect of a merger, which it does all the time: the undertakings preserve the status quo, in case the authorities decide that the merger has to be undone.

You can read the full text of the undertakings here, and the invitation to comment here. They ask for comments by 17 September, incidentally. Don't hang around!