The OFT has approved Tesco’s £53 million acquisition of a chain of 45 London grocery stores, sparking anger from convenience store retailers.
The OFT has said it saw no reason to refer the bid for Adminstore to the Competition Commission, despite complaints from Tesco’s rivals and independent retail organisations.
The Big Food Group claimed Tesco was hiding behind the two-market definition, a Competition Commission distinction between the one-stop supermarkets and convenience stores.
Bill Grimsey, Big Food Group chief executive, said: “Tesco will now be free to go out and buy up small stores around the country. And when the day comes that they have a 35 per cent share of the market, the reason will be that the OFT failed to do their job.”
A spokesman for Londis said: “The decision underlines the real threat of multiple domination of the convenience sector.”
The OFT said that the decision was taken on the basis of the deal itself. A spokesman said: “We are looking at the opportunities for people to shop in the London area. We decided there were always two alternative runs people could do, so were satisfied there was no substantial lessening of competition.”
Tesco currently has about 200 Express stores, but has said it intends to expand the format to 1,000 branches.
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