{"id":65360,"date":"2015-12-11T15:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T15:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=d1cb11424fff2db2a882667edcca6ea3"},"modified":"2015-12-11T15:00:21","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T15:00:21","slug":"press-release-pharmacy-merger-faces-in-depth-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=65360","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Pharmacy merger faces in-depth investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Celesio<\/abbr> AG (Celesio<\/abbr>), through its subsidiary Lloyds<\/abbr> Pharmacy Limited (Lloyds<\/abbr>), operates 1,542 pharmacies across the UK, whilst Sainsbury\u2019s owns 277 pharmacy stores, generally within or next to existing Sainsbury\u2019s supermarkets. <\/p>\n

Although the price of prescription medicines is regulated, pharmacies largely compete on a range of quality and service factors – such as opening and waiting times, quality of advice, availability of medicines and additional services. <\/p>\n

The Competition and Markets Authority\u2019s (CMA<\/abbr>) initial investigation has identified 78 local areas where customers may be affected by a loss of competition between Lloyds<\/abbr> and Sainsbury\u2019s pharmacies. It has also indicated that in other local areas it has been unable to reach a positive conclusion on whether the merger gives rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition. <\/p>\n

The merger will therefore be referred for an in-depth phase 2 investigation by an independent group of CMA<\/abbr> panel members. <\/p>\n

Sheldon Mills, CMA<\/abbr> Senior Director of Mergers and decision-maker in this case, said:<\/p>\n

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The majority of consumers in the UK need to use pharmacies at one time or another and they evidently provide an important service. At a local level, pharmacies compete on a range of factors that are important to customers such as availability of medicines, waiting and opening times and the quality of advice.<\/p>\n

After the merger, Lloyds<\/abbr> will no longer face competition in certain local areas from one of its rivals and following our initial investigation we are concerned that this might affect choice, quality and service for customers.<\/p>\n

We think a detailed investigation is needed to look at these concerns.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Notes for editors<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. The CMA<\/abbr> is the UK\u2019s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law. <\/li>\n
  2. This merger has a community dimension within the meaning of the European Commission (EC<\/abbr>) Merger Regulation and, therefore, was within the jurisdiction of the EC<\/abbr>. On 20 March 2015, after a request from the merging parties, the EC<\/abbr> decided to refer the merger in its entirety to be examined by the CMA<\/abbr>.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n
  3. The Reference Test: under the Enterprise Act 2002 (the Act<\/abbr>) the CMA<\/abbr> has a duty to make a reference to phase 2 if the CMA<\/abbr> believes that it is or may be the case that a relevant merger situation has been created, or arrangements are in progress or in contemplation which, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation; and the creation of that situation has resulted, or may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.<\/li>\n
  4. Under the Act<\/abbr> a relevant merger situation is created if 2 or more enterprises have ceased to be distinct enterprises; and the value of the turnover in the United Kingdom of the enterprise being taken over exceeds \u00a370 million (\u2018the turnover test\u2019) or as a result of the transaction, in relation to the supply of goods or services of any description, a 25% share of supply in the United Kingdom (or a substantial part thereof) is created or enhanced (\u2018the share of supply test\u2019).<\/li>\n
  5. The CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s duty to refer the merger for a phase 2 investigation under the Act<\/abbr> is not exercised whilst the CMA<\/abbr> is considering whether to accept undertakings (if offered) in lieu of a reference. Lloyds<\/abbr> and Sainsbury\u2019s have until 18 December 2015 to offer undertakings to the CMA<\/abbr> that might be accepted by the CMA<\/abbr>. If no undertakings are offered and accepted, then the CMA<\/abbr> will refer the merger.<\/li>\n
  6. All the CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s functions in phase 2 merger inquiries are performed by inquiry groups chosen from the CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s panel members. The appointed inquiry group are the decision-makers on phase 2 inquiries. The CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s panel members come from a variety of backgrounds, including economics, law, accountancy and\/or business. The membership of an inquiry group usually reflects a mix of expertise and experience (including industry experience).<\/li>\n
  7. The full text of this decision will be placed on the merger case page<\/a> as soon as is reasonably practicable.<\/li>\n
  8. Enquiries should be directed to Siobhan Allen (siobhan.allen@cma.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>, 020 3738 6798).<\/li>\n
  9. For information on the CMA<\/abbr> see our homepage<\/a>, or follow us on Twitter @CMAgovuk<\/a>, Flickr<\/a> and LinkedIn<\/a>. Sign up to our email alerts<\/a> to receive updates on merger cases.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Celesio\u2019s anticipated acquisition of Sainsbury\u2019s pharmacy business faces being referred for an in-depth investigation by the CMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}