The big four UK supermarkets are expecting to pay £25 million in legal fees after the Competition Commission’s (CC) investigation into the grocery sector, it has emerged.
Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrison have anticipated the payout after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) referred their study to the CC this month.
Ellie Doohan, Asda UK legal director, said that high legal fees are a cause for concern.
“As we’ve been through a number of [Competition Commission] enquiries, we’ve not been shy in asking our advisors for a buy-one-get-one-free deal on their fees,” she said. “We thought a referral unnecessary, but we’re pleased that the report highlights that planning is a concern- we share that concern.”
Other sources suggested that supermarkets were anticipating legal fees to as much as double, based on the bills from a similar probe six years ago.
“The breadth of the investigation is wider this time and we expect it to carry on much longer- it cost about £20 million the last time and we expect it to be significantly more this time,” said one source.
Slaughter and May are representing Asda, Linklaters is acting for Sainsbury’s, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising Tesco and Ashurst is acting for Wm Morrison.
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