The UK’s Office of Fair Trading has cleared the acquisition by supermarket group J Sainsbury of convenience store chain Jacksons Stores.
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The OFT said it had decided, based on the information currently available to it, not to refer the merger to the Competition Commission.
J Sainsbury announced in mid-August the acquisition of the 114-store convenience store chain, but faced opposition to the deal from grocery supplier Nisa-Today’s, which called on the government to block the acquisition.
UK supermarket chains have been buying up smaller groups of convenience stores in a bid to expand their market share amid tightening restrictions on expansion and mergers in the supermarket sector. The OFT currently regulates the convenience store sector and the supermarket sector as two separate markets, meaning supermarket giants such as Tesco and Sainsbury can buy up chains of smaller stores despite being unable to purchase supermarkets in the same location.
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