On 3rd February the Office of Fair Trading conditionally cleared Shell’s acquisition of 253 Total branded petrol stations from Rontec Investments. The OFT found that the evidence provided by the parties on the extent of local competition by means of price pressure tests (namely Gross Upward Pricing Pressure Index, GUPPI) and pass-through analysis provided it with a sufficient degree of comfort. As a result, the OFT did not require the adoption of very conservative assumptions as it often is the case in its assessment of retail mergers. The transaction is part of the divestment by Total of its UK operations. In October 2011 the OFT conditionally cleared the acquisition by Rontec Investments of Total’s UK retail fuel network of 810 petrol stations. RBB advised Shell during the OFT investigation, working alongside Allen & Overy as well as Rontec on their acquisition of Total working with Berwin Leighton Paisner.
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