AG Barr and Britvic merger fully approved by The Competition Commission
The merger between Britvic and AG Barr has been fully cleared by the Competition Commission.
The possible merger of the two companies has been formally approved by the Competition Commission, which has found that the deal would not result in a substantial lessening of competition within the drinks sector.
The initial agreement of the acquisition of AG Barr was reached last November and approved in January before the Office of Fair Trading referred the deal to the Competition Commission in February.
The Competition Commission’s report places a focus upon the AG Barr soft drink brand IRN-BRU, concentrating on its strength in the Scottish market and found no evidence that it would create a monopoly, nor would it mean a neccessary price increase for the product.
Gerald Corbett, chairman of Britvic, commented: "The merger lapsed in February when the deal was referred to the Competition Commission. We would obviously consider any proposal tabled in the interests of shareholders. However, Britvic is in a very different position to last summer when the merger was agreed. We have a new chief executive in Simon Litherland, who has done a fantastic job in implementing his new plan for Britvic. The Board is confident of driving £30m of cost savings over the next three years and of the enhanced international expansion opportunities. In addition, performance has improved, the merger benefits are materially less than they were and our share price is almost twice the level it was. Britvic's prospects as a stand-alone company are bright."