Decision on Safeway bids

Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, today announced that she was referring to the Competition Commission (CC) four of the five proposed acquisitions of Safeway. Ms Hewitt has decided to refer the proposed acquisition of Safeway by (i) Asda Stores Ltd, (ii) W M Morrison Supermarkets plc, (iii) J Sainsbury plc, (iv) Tesco plc to the CC under the provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1973. She has decided not to refer the proposed acquisition of Safeway by Trackdean Investments Limited to the Competition Commission. These decisions are in accordance with the advice of the Deputy Director General of Fair Trading (DDGFT). The CC are to make their report by 12 August 2003. Frontier advises Tesco.