OFT clears Harvest and Arena merger

The Office of Fair Trading has said the merger of Harvest Housing Group and Arena Housing Group does not warrant further investigation.

Manchester-based Harvest and Liverpool-based Arena agreed the deal last year ahead of a formal merger date in April.

The groups said the driver behind the move was “to harness the financial strength” of both organisations.

They said that both Harvest and Arena had been successful in receiving 100% of the HCA funding they had applied for in 2011, which would allow them to develop a combined 1,300 homes over the next three years.

In a brief statement the OFT said the acquisition, “does not qualify for investigation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002”. The full text of the decision will be issued shortly.

The merged group manages 32,000 homes across the North West, Staffordshire and Yorkshire.