The British Competition Authority has again postponed its decision on the merger of Veolia and Suez

The UK competition authority has once again extended its timetable to investigate the Veolia-Suez merger. The legal deadline for making a decision has been pushed back to September 11. Given the scope and complexity of the investigation, as well as the need to consider questions raised by key stakeholders and third parties, it is not possible to issue a fully reasoned decision by the original July 17 deadline, the CMA said on Thursday. However, efforts are being made to complete the exams as quickly as possible and before the new deadline expires.

On May 19, the regulator published the preliminary findings of its investigation, in which it found that competition is likely to be severely restricted in many markets. This included, for example, removal of non-hazardous municipal waste as well as commercial and industrial waste, operation and maintenance of incineration and sorting plants on behalf of municipalities, and waste incineration specifically near the Suez, Wilton 11 and Teesside plants. . Only the full sale of the UK waste business to one of the two companies would remedy the expected drop in competition, the competition watchdog concluded.

Despite the competition authority being accused of “intransigence”, Veolia announced on 16 June that it intends to sell all of its Suez waste business in the UK. According to Veolia, they want to end the “long wait” for the antitrust authority’s decision and devote themselves “entirely” to the goal of developing the group into a “world champion in environmental change.”

Then the Financial Times reported that Suez was interested in buying back British waste activities. In addition, a second company, whose name is withheld by the CMA, submitted comments expressing its desire to buy the business.