Stagecoach’s Glenvale deal cleared by OFT
THE Office of Fair Trading has cleared Stagecoach’s acquisition of First Group services in Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales.
Stagecoach subsidiary Glenvale struck a £4.5m deal to buy the business in November.
It operates commercial and tendered services in Chester, Wrexham and Birkenhead and employs 290 people.
The OFT said the two companies did not compete directly apart from on in Liverpool city centre where the overlap was “very limited”.
In a report it said: “The OFT does not believe that it is or may be the case that the transaction has resulted or may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the United Kingdom.”
The OFT received six responses from competitors concerned about the deal who said it would “severely restrict” the ability of smaller players to expand and compete, and make Merseyside more of a “closed shop”.
The purchase includes around 110 vehicles, as well as the owned depot site at New Chester Road, Rock Ferry, Birkenhead; the owned depot facility at Liverpool Road, Chester; and a leased out-station facility at Rhosddu Industrial Estate, Rhosddu, Wrexham.
