Cerelia to sell Jus-Rol after appeal to allow pastry merger blocked in court September 2, 2023 A pastry manufacturer will be forced to sell off a rival business after an appeal to allow the merger was blocked by a judge, the UK’s competition watchdog has said. Cerelia, the UK’s largest producer of bake-at-home products in the UK, agreed to buy rival pastry maker Jus-Rol for an undisclosed amount in 2021. But [...]
Why 2023 has been a year to forget for the London Stock Exchange and the capital’s equity markets September 2, 2023 Take-privates and secondary listings have damaged the reputation of the London Stock Exchange. How did we get here?
Banks raised savings rates to avoid ‘robust action’ from watchdog September 1, 2023 High street banks have been raising the rates on savings accounts after the City watchdog threatened to take action against firms.
Credit Suisse takeover helps UBS to huge profit of £23bn as integration begins August 31, 2023 UBS reported a pretax profit of £22.8bn ($29.2bn) thanks to its takeover of long time rival Credit Suisse, as it confirmed it will controversially integrate the bank’s domestic lending. UBS’s pretax profit soared to $29.2bn, with the vast majority of this comprising a ‘negative goodwill’ of $28.9bn. ‘ Negative goodwill’ reflects the difference between the [...]
Axe the £4bn-a-year share tax holding back stock markets, government told August 29, 2023 CALLS are increasing for the UK’s £4 billion-a-year share trading tax to be reduced or scrapped in an effort to reinvigorate our capital markets.
Competition watchdog probes land banks in housing investigation August 25, 2023 The UK competition watchdog has said it will probe land banking by the country’s biggest housebuilders as it identified a number of concerns regarding the sector. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) formally started a probe into the housebuilding sector and the private rental market in February. It said it was looking into the housebuilding [...]
The CMA’s hardball approach to the Microsoft deal paid off -but EU gamers will be left out August 24, 2023 A deal with the UK competition watchdog could mean British gamers have more choice than their European counterparts, writes Zach Meyers
CMA: Hitachi takeover of Thales’ rail signalling unit won’t impact London Tube projects August 23, 2023 Hitachi’s £1.4bn takeover of Thales’ rail signalling business won’t impact competition in the market for supplying signalling systems for the London Underground, the UK’s antitrust agency said today. The proposed deal led the Competition and Markets Authority to raise competition concerns back in December, as Hitachi and Thales are two of the main suppliers of [...]
Will Microsoft and Activision Blizzard finally get the green light? August 22, 2023 Britain’s competition watchdog faces a tough call on whether to wave through Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s merger as the EU and the US have done, but a green light could be down the road, experts have suggested. Microsoft’s renewed $69bn acquisition offer for gaming giant Activision Blizzard has triggered a new probe by the Competition [...]
Microsoft offers new Activision Blizzard deal to UK competition watchdog August 22, 2023 Microsoft has put a fresh deal on the table for its $69bn (£55bn) acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard, triggering a new investigation by Britain’s competition watchdog. On Tuesday the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed it is blocking the original deal to protect consumer choice in cloud gaming. However, Microsoft has submitted a fresh [...]