The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) has launched a merger inquiry into the Sun and Mail publishers plans to combine print operations.
Daily Mail and General (DMG Media) and News Corp UK and Ireland (NewsUK) proposed a joint venture last October which would combine the printing operations of NewsUK and DMG Media printing sites in Thurrock, Essex and Dinnington, South Yorkshire.
This proposal would create a new company which would run the combined print operations. This new company would operate independently, with its own senior leadership team drawn from NewsUK and DMG Media.
The merger has been cleared by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission a month after it was announced.
Today, the CMA has given “notice pursuant to section 96(2A) of the Enterprise Act 2002″ as it considers this transaction in relation to competition laws.
The CMA has invited comments on the transaction from any interested party to help assist it with its assessment.
The deadline for the CMA to announce its decision whether to refer to the merger for a phase two investigation is therefore 28 March 2024.
The CMA has been busy, only last week did the competition watchdog launched a formal investigation into the merger of Vodafone and Three.
A statement from DMG media said: “Today the UK Competition and Markets Authority announced that it will commence its formal review of the proposed joint venture between dmg media and News UK to combine its newspaper printing operations. As this is subject to ongoing regulatory review, it would be inappropriate to comment further”.
NewsUK was contacted for comment.