Competition and Markets Authority
Earlier this month, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that it would refer the merger for an in-depth investigation unless Iron Mountain offered acceptable undertakings to address the CMAs competition concerns regarding the providing of storage records and information management services in the UK.
After an initial decision identifying potential competition concerns, the acquirer has 5 working days in which to offer undertakings to address the CMAs competition concerns in lieu of the reference. Iron Mountain has offered undertakings intended to address the concerns identified. After careful consideration the CMA was not confident that these would resolve all the potential in a clear-cut manner (see note below). 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.
Note
Section 73(3) of the Enterprise Act states: the CMA shall, in particular, have regard to the need to achieve as comprehensive a solution as is reasonable and practicable to the substantial lessening of competition and any adverse effects resulting from it. In Mergers: Guidance on the CMAs jurisdiction and procedure, paragraph 8.3 states that: the CMA must be confident that the competition concerns identified will be resolved by means of the UILs (undertakings in lieu) offered without the need for further investigation. UILs are therefore appropriate only where the competition concerns raised by the merger and the remedies proposed to address them are clear-cut, and those remedies are effective and capable of ready implementation.