The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is considering an offer by Jewson to sell a branch in each of 22 local areas to remedy competition concerns raised by its completed acquisition of Build Center.
Jewson has a chain of 510 general builders merchants in the UK operating under the Jewson and Gibbs and Dandy brands.
Build Center has 149 branches, trading primarily under the Build Center brand, including a number of specialist glass, ironmongery and timber outlets.
The OFT concluded that the merger would not give rise to competition concerns nationally because sufficient competitors would remain in the market.
The OFT also found that the presence of Saint-Gobain companies upstream of general builders merchants would not give rise to competition concerns.
“However, having considered a large volume of evidence including a survey of nearly 10,000 builders, the OFT concluded that the deal raised substantial competition concerns in 22 local areas in England, Wales and Scotland,” it said.
“This was because there were few remaining general builders merchants in these local areas and the OFT was concerned that builders and other tradesmen might see an increase in prices for building materials as a result.”
The OFT has suspended its referral of the merger to the Competition Authority while it considers the Jewson offer.
