10th May 2006 15:00
Office of Fair Trading10 May 2006 Acquisition by Greene King plc of Laurel Pub Holdings Limited Affected market: Pubs 10 May 2006 Notice of proposed Order under paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 10 to the EnterpriseAct 2002 The OFT is proposing to make an Order in respect of Greene King plc (GreeneKing) to enforce compliance with divestment undertakings in lieu of reference tothe Competition Commission accepted by the OFT on 6 October 2004 following itsacquisition of Laurel Pub Holdings Ltd (the Undertakings). The Undertakingsprovide that Greene King will, by 5 April 2005, dispose of 13 pubs in areaswhere competition concerns arise as a result of that merger. Disposal of 12 out of 13 of the relevant pubs took place in March 2005. Sincethen, Greene King has requested and has been granted extensions to the originaldeadline for making these divestments of 5 April 2005, for the purpose ofcomplying with its undertaking to divest of one remaining pub in the Oxfordarea. The final extension expired on 4 April 2006. Consequently, the OFTconsiders that the Undertakings have not been and are not being fulfilled. The OFT considers that it is appropriate to make the proposed Order pursuant tosection 75 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (the Act) to require Greene King to fullycomply with the Undertakings by divesting this one remaining pub in the Oxfordarea. In the event that Greene King fails to divest the remaining pub within theperiod specified in the proposed Order then, pursuant to section 94 of the Act,the OFT will consider whether to apply to the court to enforce this Order. The text of the proposed Order is available on the OFT's website: https://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Consultations/Greene+King.htm Before the OFT reaches any final decision as to whether to make this proposedOrder, interested parties are invited to make their views known.Representations should be made to the OFT by 22 June 2006 and should beaddressed to: Mr Pat Fraser Mergers Branch Office of Fair Trading Fleetbank House 2-6 Salisbury Square London EC4Y 8JX Email: [email protected] This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Greene King