CMA pushes back timetable for Sainsbury-Asda probe

The UK competition regulator has given everyone a little more elbow room in its investigation of Sainsbury's proposed merger with Asda.

In an update to the timetable of its Phase 2 probe, the Competition and Markets Authority on Thursday said it notify all parties of its provisional findings and consider possible remedies in “January/early February”, also pushing back the time that response hearings will be held.

A day earlier, the timetable had listed “early January” for the notification.

After Sainsbury's and Asda requested 11 more days and called for a judicial review of the CMA's "timetable and process", the CMA had suggested it was disinclined to allow any leeway as merger investigations of this size "always require assessing a large volume of material in a short timeframe", pointing out that other companies have been given similar timelines.

Response hearings, if required, will be held in mid-February, having previously indicated these would be held in "early February".

Likewise, these hearings will immediately precede the final deadline for all parties’ responses and submissions, with the final report to be published by the CMA before the deadline of 5 March.