On 25 June 2015, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that it would refer the merger for a full investigation, unless the parties offered acceptable undertakings to address the CMA’s competition concerns regarding the supply of galvanising services in the West Midlands region.
Joseph Ash Limited (Joseph Ash) has offered undertakings intended to address the concerns identified. After careful consideration, the CMA was not confident that these would achieve as comprehensive a solution as is reasonable and practicable to the substantial lessening of competition and any adverse effects resulting from it. The CMA has therefore decided to refer the merger for an in-depth phase 2 investigation.
A decision on the merger will be made by a group of independent panel members supported by a case team of CMA staff.
All information relating to the investigation is available on the case page.