Carlsberg / Britvic merger inquiry

The CMA is investigating the anticipated acquisition by Carlsberg UK Holdings Limited of Britvic plc.

Statutory timetable

Phase 1 Action
17 December 2024 Decision announced
23 October 2024 Launch of merger inquiry
23 October 2024 to 6 November 2024 Invitation to comment
10 September 2024 to 24 September 2024 Preliminary invitation to comment

Phase 1

Clearance decision

17 December 2024: The CMA has cleared the anticipated acquisition by Carlsberg UK Holdings Limited of Britvic plc. The full text of the decision will be published shortly.

Launch of merger inquiry

23 October 2024: The CMA announced the launch of its merger inquiry by notice to the parties.

Invitation to comment: closed

23 October 2024: The CMA has today issued a second invitation to comment, giving all interested third parties a further opportunity to submit views about the impact that the proposed merger could have on competition in the UK. The CMA will take into account all views already submitted as part of its preliminary invitation to comment launched in September 2024 and it is not necessary to re-submit any comments you made previously.

Preliminary invitation to comment: closed

10 September 2024: The CMA is considering whether it is or may be the case that this transaction, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.

The CMA is issuing this preliminary ‘invitation to comment’ to allow interested parties to submit to the CMA any initial views on the impact that the transaction could have on competition in the UK. This invitation to comment is the first part of the CMA’s information-gathering process, in advance of the CMA’s formal investigation starting.

The CMA may proactively contact companies and organisations that are active in the markets affected by the Merger, or have valuable insights or evidence that could assist the CMA’s investigation.

To assist it with this assessment, the CMA invites comments on the transaction from any interested party.

Written representations about any competition issues should be provided by the deadline set out above.

Contact

Please send written representations about any competition or public interest to:

Your name and contact details are your personal data. In collecting, receiving, storing, accessing and using your personal data, the CMA, as controller, is processing your personal data. The CMA processes personal data in accordance with data protection law. The CMA is processing your personal data so that it can contact you again, should it need further help or information from you, in order to carry out its merger work under Part 3 of the Enterprise Act 2002. For more information about how the CMA processes personal data and your rights relating to that data, please see our Privacy Notice.

Updates to this page

Published 10 September 2024
Last updated 17 December 2024 + show all updates
  1. Decision announced.

  2. Commencement notice published.

  3. First published.