Ahead of the proposed merger of grocery giants Sainsbury’s and Asda, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a formal investigation.

The CMA has been gathering information since the announcement of the proposed merger on 30 April, and has now announced it has begun the first phase of its detailed assessment.

As part of the process of the first phase of the assessment, the CMA has issued a second invitation to comment on the merger. All interested parties are being given a further opportunity to submit views about the impact of the proposed merger on competition in the grocery sector in the UK, and also whether there are any objections to the use of FastTrack procedure on this merger.

“The CMA will take into account all views already submitted as part of its preliminary invitation to comment launched on May 2018 and it is not necessary to re-submit any comments made previously.

Comments should be submitted to the CMA by 31st August.