Deals
Sainsbury-Asda Merger Competition Ruling Is Set for Thursday
- Competition and Markets Authority expects to report this week
- Sainsbury has offered to sell up to 150 stores to appease CMA
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
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The U.K.’s antitrust regulator will publish its final decision Thursday on J Sainsbury Plc’s 7.3 billion-pound ($9.4 billion) plan to buy Walmart Inc.’s Asda, after attaching harsher-than-expected conditions to the deal in February.
Sainsbury’s attempt to buy the grocer -- which would create the biggest U.K. supermarket chain -- looked close to collapse in February after the Competition and Markets Authority said in a provisional report that even with substantial store sales, the deal would likely mean higher prices and less choice for shoppers. Sainsbury shares plunged the most in a decade on the report.