Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) has been given the green light from Australia’s competition regulator to proceed with its proposed takeover of The Cellarmasters Group.
Earlier this year the supermarket giant announced that it had agreed to buy the direct marketer of wine for $340 million from private equity group Archer Capital.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has today advised that proposed acquisition is unlikely to substantially lessen competition, given the presence of several significant competitors in wine, retailing, production and associated services.
The ACCC says that its review found that Woolworths and Cellarmasters were not particularly close retail competitors, regardless of how the relevant market was defined.
In the last six months of 2010 Woolworths posted a net profit of $1.2 billion
