Petrol stations dumped to seal Morrisons deal

THE £7bn private equity takeover of Morrisons is set to be approved after the competition watchdog said it would accept proposals from buyer Clayton, Dubilier and Rice.

The New York buyout house, which owns the Motor Fuel Group forecourt empire, will offload 87 of its petrol stations to get the deal across the line.

CD&R won the battle for control of Morrisons in October but has since been under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority.

MFG owns 921 petrol stations while Morrisons has 339, which the CMA said could have hit consumers with higher prices in 121 locations across the UK.

Last month, CD&R offered to sell a number of petrol stations to address the concerns, though not in all of the 121 areas identified.

But the CMA said: ‘While the number of petrol stations CD&R is proposing to sell is lower than the number of areas in which concerns were identified, the sale of some petrol stations would address the concerns in multiple areas.’ Its senior merger director Colin Raftery said the sales would ‘preserve competition’, which he said was vital with petrol prices at record highs.

The CMA’s approval will see the takeover avoid a full-blown investigation.

CD&R won an auction for Morrisons in October after a battle in which it tipped American private equity rival Fortress by 1p per share.

Days later the CMA began to probe the deal over fears it would create a group controlling more than 1,250 of the UK’s 8,000 petrol stations.

MFG is the UK’s biggest independent forecourt firm, running petrol stations for Texaco, Shell and BP.

A final decision is expected on June 9, which could allow CD&R to finally take full control of Morrisons.