UK Antitrust Regulator Greenlights , Amazon’s $1.7B iRobot Acquisition.
UK Antitrust Regulator Greenlights , Amazon’s $1.7B iRobot Acquisition.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has determined that the agreement "would not lead to competition concerns in the U.K.," TechCrunch reports. .
According to the CMA, iRobot only has a "modest" market position in the U.K. and already has a handful of rivals.
The European Commission will make a decision on the matter by July 6.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering
an investigation into the deal as well. .
While different regulators usually cooperate with each other and share notes, they could still decide to block the deal.
The merging parties will no doubt take comfort from the CMA clearance although they will also know that the different regulatory agencies do not always operate in complete lock-step with one another, Alex Haffner, competition partner at U.K.-based law firm Fladgate, via statement .
The CMA's decision will likely serve to
address criticism over the way it's stopped mergers in
the past, particularly deals involving American companies.
The CMA's decision will likely serve to
address criticism over the way it's stopped mergers in
the past, particularly deals involving American companies.
The clearance decision is a
useful riposte to allegations, which
have taken on particular prominence recently in the light of Microsoft/Activision acquisition, that the CMA is anti-tech or unduly stifling economic growth in the sector, Alex Haffner, competition partner at U.K.-based law firm Fladgate, via statement .
In reality though, the ‘fundamentals’
of this deal means that the CMA’s assessment was far less controversial than in other tech-based cases given in particular
iRobot’s low market-share, Alex Haffner, competition partner at U.K.-based law firm Fladgate, via statement