UK watchdog to review Liberty Global, Telefonica deal :Source

BRUSSELS: UK competition watchdog CMA is set to take over the review of Liberty Global and Telefonica’s plan to merge their British businesses, with EU antitrust regulators ceding the case to them, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The U.S. cable operator and Spanish telecoms provider want to better compete with market leader BT with the $38 billion deal combining Virgin Media and O2.

They sought European Commission approval on Sept. 30 while CMA requested to take over the review on Oct. 8 because of the deal’s impact in Britain and after Brexit.