Competition Commission publishes undertakings in Somerfield/Morrisons merger
The Competition Commission (CC) has published the undertakings it has accepted from Somerfield. These require Somerfield to divest stores identified in the CC's report of 2 September 2005, in which the CC concluded that the completed acquisition by Somerfield of 115 stores from Morrisons may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition in 12 local grocery retail markets in Great Britain. Somerfield appealed this decision to the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT), but the CAT rejected its arguments. The agreed undertakings commit Somerfield to selling 12 stores to purchasers approved by the CC. In seven towns it must sell the stores acquired from Morrisons: these are stores in Filey, Middlesbrough Linthorpe, Newark, Pocklington, Poole Bearwood, South Shields and Whitburn (Scotland). In Johnstone, Peebles and Yarm, it can sell either the acquired store or a specified existing Somerfield store. In Kelso and Littlehampton, where it has already closed its existing store, it must sell the closed store and can continue to operate the acquired store.Frontier (London) advises Tesco.
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