CMA OKs Just Eat and Takeaway.com Deal

The CMA has cleared the £6.2 billion merger between 2 food delivery companies.

Just Eat is one of the main food delivery firms in the UK market, while Takeaway.com operates in 11 countries overseas, including the Netherlands and Germany, but has not been active in the UK since exiting in 2016. Both companies’ platforms link customers to hundreds of restaurants or food outlets, where they can browse takeaway options and order online.

As part of its investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) considered information suggesting that Takeaway.com might have been well-placed to re-enter the UK market and compete with Just Eat, had the merger not gone ahead.

As there are only a small number of companies that act as the middle-man between restaurants and customers, re-entry by Takeaway.com could have given UK customers more choice – and possibly better value for money or quality of service – when deciding what to order.

However, after carefully investigating these concerns and scrutinising large volumes of the two companies’ own internal business documents, the CMA is satisfied that there is not a material likelihood that Takeaway.com would have re-entered the UK in the future, had the merger not gone ahead.

Colin Raftery, Senior Director of Mergers at the CMA, said:

After interrogating how this deal is likely to affect the UK market, we are satisfied that there are no competition concerns.

Full Content: Gov UK

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