REG - Competition and Mkts - IVC/multiple independent veterinary businesses
26/05/2023 12:45
For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below: http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20230526:nRSZ7019Aa&default-theme=true RNS Number : 7019A Competition and Markets Authority 26 May 2023 CMA invites comments on merger remedies The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened a consultation on undertakings in lieu of reference proposed by Independent Vetcare Limited (IVC) to address competition concerns over its acquisitions of the following independent veterinary businesses: (a) Penrose Veterinary Group Limited (Penrose); (b) Kevin Castle (Pet Care) Limited (Pet Care); (c) Swayne & Partners Topco Limited, including Swayne and Partners Holdings Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary Swayne and Partners Limited (Swayne); (d) Mercer & Hughes Limited (Mercer & Hughes); (e) Swaffham Veterinary Centre Limited (Swaffham); (f) Anglesey Pet Clinic Ltd (Anglesey), and (g) Chiltern Equine Clinic, including Chiltern Veterinary Services Limited and Chiltern Bury Farm Limited (Chiltern). The undertakings proposed in relation to Treforest Veterinary Clinic Limited (Treforest) are not being consulted on at this stage. On 17 February 2023, the CMA announced that it would refer the acquisition for in-depth investigations unless IVC offered acceptable undertakings to address the CMA's concerns in relation to each of the Mergers listed above. To address the CMA's concerns, IVC has offered to divest each of the above listed Targets as viable and standalone businesses with an upfront buyer. On 3 March 2023, the CMA announced that it would look in detail at these undertakings. The CMA has until 30 June 2023 to consider whether to accept the undertakings, or a modified version of them. As part of this process, the CMA is now consulting publicly on whether the proposals are sufficient to address the CMA's competition concerns. Before reaching a final decision, the CMA is therefore inviting interested parties to make their views known. The deadline for responses is Monday 12 June 2023. The consultation on the undertakings and all other information relating to these merger investigations can be found on the case page at https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases (https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases) . This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com) or visit www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/) . RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy) . END MERBXGDUCUDDGXU