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UK: Watchdog probes Stars Group, Sky Bet union

By  |  July 15, 2018

The UK’s competition watchdog is probing The Stars Group’s US$4.7b acquisition of Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG).

On Tuesday, Canada’s The Stars Group (TSG) announced that it had completed its acquisition of SBG, which the company originally announced in April. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it was “investigating the completed acquisition” and had served an initial enforcement order under section 72(2) of the Enterprise Act 2002.

An Initial Enforcement Order is the most preliminary step that the CMA could take, coming ahead of a more formal Phase One investigation, which, for example, was announced when Ladbrokes and Coral signalled their intention to merge in 2016. While the CMA became involved in the Ladbrokes Coral merger at an early stage, its involvement in Stars’ acquisition of SBG following the financial completion of the deal is not considered unusual.

Full Content: iGaming Business

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