JD Sports appeals CMA block on £90m Footasylum buyout
JD Sports is to appeal a decision by the competition regulator to block its £90m buyout of Footasylum.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided to put a halt to the deal last month, ruling that it would lead to a “substantially” lessening of competition nationally.
However, JD Sports said the probe had relied on “an inaccurate and outdated analysis of the UK sports retail competitive landscape”.
The Competition Appeals Tribunal has not yet published the summary of notice, which illustrates what grounds the retailer is contesting the decision on.
But lawyers anticipate that this will reiterate the criticisms that were raised during the inquiry.
The CMA’s investigation found that shoppers would be left with “fewer discounts or receiving lower quality customer service”.
It said it had analysed a broad range of evidence looking at how closely JD Sports and Footasylum firms compete.
The CMA said evidence included more than 2000 of the companies’ own internal strategy and decision-making documents.
As a result, the CMA said last month that it would require the company to sell Footasylum to an independent bidder.
The company said the watchdog had failed to take account of the impact of Covid-19 on Footasylum sufficiently, which was already in financial difficulties last year.