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OFT will evaluate
Page 5
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Stena's Irish bid
• The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has referred Stena's M to buy P&O's Irish Sea ferry routes to the Competition Commission over fears the takeover will lead to higher prices.
Stena wants to take over the Fleetwood-Larne and LiverpoolDublin routes, while P&O has also announced it intends to withdraw from the Mostyn-Dublin route.
Pate Edwards, the OFT's director of legal services, says: "Despite a decline in demand for ferry services in the Irish Sea, we believe this proposed merger may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition, and therefore needs to be investigated by the Competition Commission."
An OFT statement added that it had heard from a number of ferry customers "who had raised concerns that the merger would lead to increased prices".
A spokesman for Stena Line said that hauliers had little to fear from rising prices, because over-capacity will help keep rates down. He added that the company expected to get approval both from the UK's Competition Commission and the Irish competition authority, which is also expected to examine the deal. The Competition Commission report on the issue is due by 6 February 2004.