IN THE NEWS
Private motor insurance market facing reference to the Competition Commission
The OFT has provisionally decided to refer the private motor insurance market to the Competition Commission. The OFT is concerned that, following a road traffic accident, the at-fault driver's insurer has little control over repair and vehicle replacement costs for which it is responsible – and that insurers of the not-at-fault driver and other parties can take advantage of this lack of control as an opportunity to generate revenues, thereby inflating the costs of insurers of at-fault drivers. Click here.
OFT clears Nottingham newspapers merger
The OFT has cleared the acquisition of The Topper newspaper by the Daily Mail General Trust. The Daily Mail General Trust publishes daily paper The Nottingham Post, and proposes to acquire The Topper, a weekly freesheet publication. The OFT found that, despite the proposed merger leading to a high combined share of supply of local newspapers and local paper advertising space in Nottingham, there was sufficient evidence that other competitive restraints would protect customers from price increases or reductions in quality. The OFT considered that the appropriate frame of reference for an assessment of the transaction was the supply of local newspapers in the Nottingham area. The OFT did not consider that online media formed part of the same relevant market as local newspapers but took into account the constraint from online and other media in its overall competitive assessment. Click here.
UK
Court of Appeal
- The Court of Appeal has granted BAA permission to appeal the CAT judgment dismissing its appeal against the divestment of Stansted. Click here.
Competition Commission
- The Competition Commission has formally cleared South Staffordshire Plc's completed acquisition of Cambridge Water PLC. This confirms the Commission's provisional decision, which was published last month. Click here.
- The Competition Commission has published an issues statement as part of its investigation into McGill's Bus Services Limited's (McGill's) completed acquisition of the Arriva Scotland West local bus business. Click here.
- The Competition Commission has accepted final undertakings from Stericycle, Inc and SRCL Limited in relation to the completed acquisition of Ecowaste Southwest Limited. Click here.
OFT
- The Office of Fair Trading has published the findings of its consultation into markets in remote communities across the UK. Click here.
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