UK: Just Eat faces CMA probe over Hungryhouse merger

Just Eat’s proposed takeover of Hungryhouse is facing an in-depth investigation by the UK’s competition watchdog over fears restaurateurs could end up with a worse deal.

Both companies provide online takeaway ordering services, giving restaurants the opportunity to reach a wide pool of customers and offering consumers a greater choice.

However, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the tie-up between the two firms could result in worse terms for restaurants using either of the two companies and their clients. Hungryhouse is Just Eat’s biggest UK rival.

The probe is one of a string of examples where the regulator has intervened in rapidly changing industries that have been transformed by the internet — riling critics who say the CMA doesn’t do enough forward-looking analysis, giving it a blind spot in fast-evolving markets where new entrants can deploy high tech to obliterate incumbents almost overnight, reports Bloomberg.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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