CMA refers Just Eat/Hungryhouse merger for in-depth probe

The Competition and Markets Authority has referred Just Eat's proposed acquisition of Hungryhouse to an in-depth phase 2 investigation.

Just Eat had been given a chance to offer ways of addressing the CMA's concerns by 17 May but did not offer any up.

"Following its initial investigation into the merger, the CMA has found that the companies are close competitors because of the similarity of their service and their broad geographical coverage."

The CMA had announced earlier this month that it would refer the case and Just Eat said at the time that it was looking forward to cooperating with the regulator and was "committed to demonstrating to the CMA that the market is, and will remain, competitive following completion of the proposed transaction."

At 0900 BST, the shares were up 1.1% to 598.50p.