British regulator blocks merger Sainsbury & # 39; s-Asda



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A Sainsbury sign stands at the top of a gas station gantry, in front of an Asda sign above the supermarket entrance of Watford, UK, on ​​Monday, April 30, 2018 .

Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A Sainsbury sign stands at the top of a gas station gantry, in front of an Asda sign above the supermarket entrance of Watford, UK, on ​​Monday, April 30, 2018 .

The UK's competition regulator has blocked Walmart's Ascan takeover project, worth 7.3 billion pounds (7.3 billion pounds), a hard blow brought to supermarket groups who wanted to combine to surpass the market leader, Tesco.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in its final report Thursday that the deal would result in higher prices in stores, on the Internet and at many UK service stations.

Sainsbury's, Walmart and Asda stated that they had mutually agreed to terminate the transaction.

Sainsbury & # 39; s and Asda reached the deal last April. In addition to exceeding the market leader, Tesco, this would also have allowed Walmart to exit Britain, one of the worst performing countries in its global portfolio.

However, in its final report, the AMC found that British buyers and motorists would be worse off if Sainsbury's and Asda merged.

He concluded that the agreement would result in a significant reduction of competition at national and local levels.

This would mean that it would mean that UK buyers would be affected, not just in areas where Sainsbury's and Asda stores overlap.

"We concluded that there was no effective way to address our concerns, if it is to block the merger," said Stuart McIntosh, chair of the task force CMA.

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