C-store bosses have called on the OFT to prevent Tesco from marching unopposed into the convenience sector.
Musgrave UK executive chairman Eoin McGettigan, Spar UK MD Jerry Marwood and Big Food Group CEO Bill Grimsey said they would be sounding out the Office of Fair Trading over the competition issues raised by the deal.
Marwood said: “If Tesco is successful, it will reduce choice
for consumers and act as a virtual lockout to other retailers.”
McGettigan added: “It’s clearly time to revisit the OFT’s arbitrary distinction between the one stop and the convenience market which allowed them to wave through Tesco’s acquisition of T& S.
“Quite apart from the local competition issues this may raise, it is a further augmentation of Tesco’s overall market share.”
Grimsey said the deal should be blocked. “This is yet another example of Tesco exploiting the flawed ‘two market’ definition to make acquisitions that are not in the long-term interests of consumers.”
Federation of Wholesale Distributors director general Alan Toft said a referral was the only way to stop Tesco’s bid for “total market dictatorship”.
He said: “It is imperative that this bid is referred promptly to the OFT and blocked. The OFT must appreciate the dangers to consumer choice inherent in Tesco’s predatory policies.”
Landmark chairman Steve Parfett added: “This is petty cash to Tesco, but the implications for the London market and the c-store market as a whole are huge.”
Nisa-Today’s, of which Adminstore was a member, said it was a “great shame” that the character of the independent sector was to be “further eroded by the purchase of this extremely well-run business by Tesco”.
The ACS said the deal should be referred to the OFT as it had “potential consequences for the whole of the sector”.
The OFT said it had not been pre-notified of the deal and was now assessing whether it raised local competition concerns.
It said mergers were typically scrutinised if the company to be acquired had an annual turnover of more than £70m or if the deal would give the combined entity more than 25% of a given market.
Musgrave UK executive chairman Eoin McGettigan, Spar UK MD Jerry Marwood and Big Food Group CEO Bill Grimsey said they would be sounding out the Office of Fair Trading over the competition issues raised by the deal.
Marwood said: “If Tesco is successful, it will reduce choice
for consumers and act as a virtual lockout to other retailers.”
McGettigan added: “It’s clearly time to revisit the OFT’s arbitrary distinction between the one stop and the convenience market which allowed them to wave through Tesco’s acquisition of T& S.
“Quite apart from the local competition issues this may raise, it is a further augmentation of Tesco’s overall market share.”
Grimsey said the deal should be blocked. “This is yet another example of Tesco exploiting the flawed ‘two market’ definition to make acquisitions that are not in the long-term interests of consumers.”
Federation of Wholesale Distributors director general Alan Toft said a referral was the only way to stop Tesco’s bid for “total market dictatorship”.
He said: “It is imperative that this bid is referred promptly to the OFT and blocked. The OFT must appreciate the dangers to consumer choice inherent in Tesco’s predatory policies.”
Landmark chairman Steve Parfett added: “This is petty cash to Tesco, but the implications for the London market and the c-store market as a whole are huge.”
Nisa-Today’s, of which Adminstore was a member, said it was a “great shame” that the character of the independent sector was to be “further eroded by the purchase of this extremely well-run business by Tesco”.
The ACS said the deal should be referred to the OFT as it had “potential consequences for the whole of the sector”.
The OFT said it had not been pre-notified of the deal and was now assessing whether it raised local competition concerns.
It said mergers were typically scrutinised if the company to be acquired had an annual turnover of more than £70m or if the deal would give the combined entity more than 25% of a given market.
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