Safeway report delivered to DTI
Supermarket predators face waiting game
August 19 2003
The Competition Commission delivered its report on the potential bidders for supermarket chain Safeway yesterday.
The Department of Trade and Industry took delivery of the 840 page report towards the end of the day. The document was already six days later, due to an eleventh hour requests by the Wal-Mart owned Asda chain for an additional meeting to restate its case.
Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt is likely to take 30 working days to teach a judgement on the recommendations. Morrisons, the UK’s fifth largest supermarket chain, is still expected to be cleared to buy Safeway with a relatively small number of store disposals.
However, Asda, which sees acquiring Safeway as its best opportunity to close the gap on market leader Tesco in the medium-term, has stepped up its lobbying efforts. Tesco and Sainsbury’s are also potential bidders, as is Bhs and Arcadia owner Philip Green, who with no other supermarket interests is free to bid at any time.
