The Complex World of a Competition Regulator
In today’s post, the focus will be on a few potential M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) deals that the British competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), is currently dealing with. Whilst also serving as a review of the recent business news in this field, this post will seek to analyse the complex nature of the CMA’s task and all of the aspects that it must consider; the effect of their decision in a given case will, by its very definition, go on to have massive consequences for those businesses involved and, more importantly, the public which is exposed to the effects of these potential deals. What we will see is that, in a number of cases, the balance which is aimed for will weigh heavier on any given side, but finding a solution to this is almost impossible, if even desirable. First up for us is Tesco and its proposed deal to take over the wholesale company Booker, which is something we have analysed before here in Financial Regulation Matters . The...