Morrisons sale set for green light after petrol stations deal

The competition watchdog is set to approve Clayton, Dubilier and Rice’s £7bn takeover of Morrisons after the private equity group offered to sell 87 petrol stations. CD&R will be permitted to run the supermarket chain directly from early June, despite beating competition from a consortium led by Fortress Investment to close the deal in October last year. It has been required to run the business at arm’s length pending an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority into the retail fuel market. Morrisons operates 339 petrol stations across England, Scotland and Wales, while CD&R is also the owner of Motor Fuel Group, which has 921 sites. This year, the CMA identified 121 locations where competition could be reduced following the takeover. CD&R has offered to divest 87 MFG sites to other operators to restore competition. The buyers of the sites would have to be approved by the CMA, which could be done after the CD&R takeover of Morrisons has been cleared. The FT (£) The Guardian