Supermarket mergers decided

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt announced today that she has accepted the conclusions of the Competition Commission (CC) contained in a report being published today, that the proposed acquisitions of Safeway by Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco may all be expected to operate against the public interest, and should be prohibited. Mrs Hewitt has also accepted the CC's conclusion that the proposed acquisition of Safeway by Morrisons may be expected to operate against the public interest, but that this acquisition should be allowed to proceed provided limited store divestments recommended by the CC are agreed with Morrisons. Frontier advised Tesco throughout the inquiry.Copies of the report "Safeway plc and Asda Group Limited (owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc); Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC; J Sainsbury plc; and Tesco plc - A report on the mergers in contemplation" (Cm 5950) is available from the CC website.