OFT to examine Morrisons acquisition of Co-op stores

The OFT is to examine the acquisition of 30 Co-op stores by Morrisons.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said it will be looking into the acquisition of 30 former Co-operative Group stores by supermarket chain Morrisons.

It confirmed that the deal will be examined to determine whether or not there are any concerns relating to competition in the market.

Morrisons announced that it had bought the Co-op stores in December last year as part of its expansion programme.

It said the acquisition - together with the purchase of eight Somerfield stores - would add more than half a million square feet of additional selling space in the UK.

The new stores - which cost a total of £223 million - would fit within the group's existing portfolio of 150 smaller stores, it confirmed.

At the time, Morrisons said commercial agreements were subject to regulatory approval, as well as the Co-operative Group's successful acquisition of Somerfield.

The OFT will now look into the deal to ascertain whether it will have any negative impacts on competition.

As the UK's consumer and competition authority, the OFT is responsible for protecting consumer interests.

Figures released by TNS Worldpanel at the end of March revealed that Morrisons had an 11.8 per cent share of the UK grocery market.

This was behind Sainsbury's, with a 16.1 per cent share, Asda, with a 17.5 per cent share and Tesco, which had a share of 30.4 per cent.

Morrisons has 375 stores in the UK serving nine million customers a week and employing more than 114,000 members of staff in its stores, factories, distribution centres and offices.