On 12 October the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally cleared Just Eat’s acquisition of Hungryhouse, reaching a provisional conclusion that the merger between the two web-based food ordering platforms does not raise competitive concerns.
As pointed out in the CMA's press release, Hungryhouse presently provides limited competition to Just Eat because it is much smaller in size and offers too few unique restaurants, making it increasingly difficult for Hungryhouse to attract and retain consumers. Furthermore, the industry is evolving rapidly following the entry of platforms, such as Deliveroo, UberEATS and Amazon, which also manage or facilitate delivery services on behalf of restaurants. These companies generally present a greater competitive challenge to Just Eat than Hungryhouse, and this is likely to grow as they expand.
The CMA is seeking for views on these provisional findings and will assess all the evidence before making a final decision.
The full text of the press release and related documents on the merger are available here.