Asda-Sainsbury’s merger will raise competition questions

The Asda-Sainsbury’s merger will raise competition questions and will, we strongly suspect, draw the attention of the UK’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Market’s Authority (CMA), who will conduct a review to assess the impact the merger may have on the market.

With the merger set to result in Asda and Sainsbury’s controlling 60% of the market, the CMA will need to ensure that any merger that does go ahead – if it’s even allowed to proceed in the first place – will not put consumers in a worse position in the long-run.

Consumers are being promised price cuts of 10%, but in the absence of any specificity as to the products that will be cut, the potential merger has raised a lot of eyebrows.
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UK pharmaceutical companies paying millions of pounds to healthcare professionals

According to a report from The Times newspaper, UK pharmaceutical companies are reportedly paying millions of pounds to healthcare professionals and other organisations.

American pharmaceutical companies have previously come under fire for reportedly paying healthcare professionals to push their products, and it now appears the UK may have the same problem.

According to The Times, two of the biggest pharmaceutical players in the UK have been making “secret payments” of almost £20 million to reportedly “plug” their products.
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CMA decision published: anti-competitive arrangements lead to fines of £1.71m issued to suppliers of ‘cleanroom’ laundry services

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decision was published about Micronclean Limited and Berendsen Cleanroom Services Limited who were found to have allocated territories and customers plus both companies had agreed not to compete with each other’s relevant allocations.

This is a very serious breach of competition laws – the market is essentially rigged in their favour by sharing the market and agreeing not to compete. This can lead to inflated prices, a lack of innovation and little choice for consumers in the market. This behaviour favours the companies financially, and not the consumer; totally against the principles of fair competition.
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A little about competition law…

Competition law allows for fair competition to be maintained between companies and prevents companies taking part in anti-competitive behaviour.

The UK is governed by UK and EU competition laws, and if it’s found that a company has engaged in anti-competitive behaviour, there can be serious consequences. The two common ways in which competition law can be breached is: engaging in anti-competitive agreements; abuse of a dominant market position.

Both can lead to fines for offending companies.
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