The UK’s competition watchdog has formally opened an investigation into whether the acquisition of supermarket chain Morrisons by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) will reduce choice for supermarket customers in the country.
CD&R, which has former Tesco boss Terry Leahy as a senior adviser, won an auction for Morrisons in October by bidding a penny a share more than a consortium led by Softbank-owned Fortress Investment Group. Its offer of 287p per share values Morrisons at £7.1bn.
Headquartered in County Durham, the group posted an increase of more than ninefold in pre-tax profits to £10.4m across its services business, land portfolio, and HRMS joint venture in Germany. This was despite an anticipated decline in revenues to £76.1m.
Read more: The Herald
