Business
Combination Update
Combination Update.
About this update from Barratt Redrow Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\nNOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THAT JURISDICTION\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n21 August 2024\nRECOMMENDED ALL-SHARE OFFER FOR THE COMBINATION\nof\nBARRATT DEVELOPMENTS PLC (\"Barratt\")\nand\nREDROW PLC (\"Redrow\")\nto be effected by means of a scheme of arrangement under\nPart 26 of the Companies Act 2006\nUPDATE ON THE CMA PROCESS\nOn 7 February 2024, the boards of Barratt and Redrow announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended all-share offer for the combination of Barratt and Redrow, pursuant to which Barratt will acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Redrow (the \"Combination\"). The Combination is being implemented by means of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 (the \"Scheme\"), with full terms and conditions of the Combination set out in the scheme document which was published on 19 April 2024 (the \"Scheme Document\").\nOn 8 August 2024, the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (the \"CMA\") concluded its Phase 1 investigation in respect of the Combination and found that the Combination does not raise any UK-wide competition issues but that it had concerns regarding the supply of new build private residential housing in only one of the more than 400 local areas where the two companies overlap under the CMA's chosen methodology to assess the local effects of the Combination, and where there were fewer than 10 plots remaining to sell at the time of the CMA's review. Following this announcement, Barratt and Redrow have engaged with the CMA with the objective of agreeing suitable undertakings which would address the CMA's limited concerns and avoid the need for a reference to a full Phase 2 investigation.\nUndertakings in lieu of a Phase 2 investigation\nOn 15 August 2024, the parties submitted to the CMA undertakings in lieu of a reference to a Phase 2 investigation.\nToday the CMA has announced that it considers there are reasonable grounds to believe that the undertakings offered by the parties, or a modified version of them, might be accepted by the CMA to remedy the issues it had identified, thereby precluding the nee...