On September 26, Patricia Hewitt announced that she had asked the OFT to obtain undertakings from Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco not to acquire Safeway or any part of Safeway, following the Competition Commission's (CC) adverse report into the proposed acquisitions of Safeway.

Following the first round of consultation between OFT and these parties, Hewitt has now announced that having accepted in full the CC's conclusions and recommendations, it has become clear that there is some speculation over the exact scope of the prohibition undertakings required. She has concluded that she should make a further comment on what, in the light of the CC's report, she considers this to be in order to minimise market uncertainty.

Hewitt said that she intends to indicate to the OFT that she would be minded to accept undertakings to the effect that:

(i) the prohibition upon acquiring "any part of" Safeway should exclude transactions to which the OFT has given its prior written consent;

(ii) "any part of" Safeway should be construed as being any Safeway assets or collection of Safeway assets the acquisition of which in the view of the OFT may give rise to the adverse effects specified in the CC's report; and (iii) "Safeway assets" should be defined as including any store or other property, including distribution depots and sites, used by Safeway as part of its grocery retailing business.

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