COMPETITION COMMISSION GRANTED SHORT EXTENSION FOR SAFEWAY MERGERS

The Competition Commission has welcomed the DTI’s decision to grant a six day extension to the deadline for the proposed Safeway merger.

Competition Commission Chairman Sir Derek Morris said:

“One of the parties requested a further meeting last week. The Commission needed to assess the matters discussed and give the other main parties a chance to comment.

“These matters needed to be addressed before completing our report to the Secretary of State. The CC worked through the weekend to achieve this in time for the report to be produced by today (12 August 2003) but this proved impossible. We now hope to submit it by Friday 15 August but have requested an extension to Monday 18 August 2003 to allow another weekend for any last minute considerations that may slow us down. It is crucial that all views on all relevant matters are described fully in the report.”

Notes to editors

1. The proposed acquisition of Safeway by (i) Asda Stores ltd, (ii) W M Morrison Supermarkets plc, (iii) J Sainsbury plc, (iv) Tesco plc were referred to the Competition Commission under the Fair Trading Act 1973 by the Trade and Industry Secretary, Patricia Hewitt on 19 March 2003.
2. Section 70 (2) of the 1973 Act enables the Secretary of State to allow one further period for report on a merger reference on representations being made by the Competition Commission and on being satisfied that there are special reasons why the report cannot be made within the period specified in the reference.
3. Further information can be obtained from the Commission’s website at http://www.competition-commission.org.uk
4. Enquiries should be directed to Francis Royle, Press Officer, Tel: 0207 271 0242