London -- The U.K. Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced that it has
approved the proposed acquisition of Energis, a U.K.-based
telecommunications firm, by local rival Cable & Wireless (C&W). In
August, C&W said it would pay £594 million in cash for Energis,
followed by £80 million in cash or shares three years after the deal is
completed. Industry experts and analysts had feared that the OFT
would refer the deal to the Competition Commission in a move that
could well have scuttled the merger altogether. OFT Competition
Enforcement Director Vincent Smith, however, said his organisation
did not believe C&W would impose higher post-merger prices on
customers because of the number of credible competitors -- despite the
fact the two companies overlap in the supply of various
telecommunications services to U.K. business customers.
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