KKR pushes for Assura to ditch PHP deal amid bidding war August 8, 2025 The bidding war between private equity giant KKR and retail investor Primary Health Properties (PHP) has heated up after KKR pushed for Assura to ditch an already recommended takeover offer from the latter. KKR’s investment vehicle Bidco – which is also by fellow US private equity Stonepeak – said on Friday it has held discussions [...]
Big tech hits back as CMA flags ‘harmful” cloud dominance by Microsoft and AWS July 31, 2025 Big Tech companies have pushed back against a damning report from the UK’s competition watchdog, which warned that Microsoft and Amazon’s dominance in the £10.5bn cloud computing market is stifling competition and harming UK businesses. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday published the final findings of its 21-month cloud investigation, concluding that Microsoft [...]
Breadmakers Hovis and Kingsmill butter up £75m merger July 26, 2025 Bread producers Hovis and Kingsmill are set for a historic merger with their owners expected to ink an agreement after months of discussion. Kingsmill, whose immediate parent Allied Bakeries is owned by London-listed Associated British Foods (ABF), and Hovis could benefit from up to £50m of annual cost savings from a merger. The proposed agreement, [...]
Chatbots are growing fast – but search still rules the web July 24, 2025 While chatbots like ChatGPT are seeing explosive growth, they are still a long way from overtaking traditional search engines – and Google remains firmly control of how people find information online. A recent report found that between April 2024 and March 2025, visits to AI chatbots surged by nearly 81 per cent year on year, [...]
Growth mandate won’t harm consumers, says competition watchdog July 16, 2025 The boss of the UK’s competition watchdog has insisted there is no additional risk of consumer harm from the government’s bid to put regulators on a growth footing, despite her former chair being ousted for not buying into the push. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) boss Sarah Cardell said she saw “no tension” between her [...]
Watchdog probe to net £100m from listed housebuilders for affordable schemes July 9, 2025 A probe by the UK’s competition watchdog is likely to result in a collective £100m package from seven housebuilders for affordable housing schemes. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe, which looked into the anti-competitive practices of seven housing developers – Barratt Redrow, Bellway, Berkeley Group, Bloor Homes, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry – was launched [...]
Why did Santander buy TSB? July 3, 2025 Santander might have hoped its takeover of TSB would make waves across the banking industry, but analysts have dubbed it a more modest splash. The deal, which is set to be worth £2.9bn when closed in 2026, will add TSB’s five million customers, £34bn in mortgages and £35bn in deposits to Santander’s portfolio as well [...]
Aviva’s £3.7bn takeover of Direct Line approved by UK watchdog July 1, 2025 Aviva’s acquisition of smaller insurance peer Direct Line has been approved by the competitions watchdog, paving the way for the formation of Britain’s biggest home and motor insurer. The £3.7bn takeover will not be subject to a phase-two investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Tuesday, after a preliminary probe to assess whether [...]
UK’s competition watchdog sets its sights on Google search June 24, 2025 The UK’s competition watchdog has proposed designating Google with ‘strategic market status’ after an investigation earlier this year revealed market issues. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had “heard concerns” that Google’s search advertising costs are higher “than would be expected” in a “more competitive market”. It will also look into the transparency [...]
One twist left in the PHP and KKR bidding war for Assura June 23, 2025 The Assura bidding war between KKR and PHP looked to be sealing its final chapter on Monday – but analysts warn there could be one more twist in the saga. Assura said on Monday it had recommended its board to accept a fresh cash offer from PHP, which valued the firm at £1.79bn. The deal [...]