News story
Country stores merger referred for in-depth investigation
Mole Valley’s purchase of the retail arm of Countrywide Farmers is being referred for an in-depth investigation, after the CMA found competition concerns.
On 21 February the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it would refer the merger for a phase 2 investigation unless Mole Valley offered acceptable proposals to address these concerns.
As the parties have not offered satisfactory undertakings, the CMA will now refer the merger.
A decision on the merger will be made by a group of independent panel members supported by a case team of CMA staff. The deadline for the final report is 20 August 2018.
Information relating to the investigation is available on the case page.
Updates to this page
Published 6 March 2018