UK's The Office of Fair Trading released a statement on Friday afternoon saying that the merger London foundation trusts University College London Hospitals, the Royal Free London and The Doctors Laboratory did not violate antitrust regulations.
The University College London Hospitals and the Royal Free London enterned into a special joint venture agreement with the private sector company. The joint venture would have The Doctors as a major shareholder of the venture, employing 690 staff members from UK's the National Health Services. The merger was a strategic move for the hospitals to be able to apply for bids for government-controlled NHS contracts.
OFT director of mergers Nelson Jung said, We understand that a number of pathology providers, both in the public and private sector, are forming joint ventures following the review of pathology services in the UK led by Lord Carter. We would expect this review to drive these providers to compete more strongly in future.
The review of the British regulator said the parties involved in the merger had limited competition that the planned consolidation did not pose a threat to the pathology services market.
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