LONDON (Alliance News) - The UK's Competition & Markets Authority said Friday it has accepted undertakings offered by Cision AB in relation to its acquisition of UK-listed events company UBM PLC's PR Newswire business and will not be referring the acquisition to a Phase 2 investigation.
UBM had announced the sale of the business in late 2015 to Cision, a PR software company owned by Chicago-based private equity house GTCR Canyon Holdings, for GBP490.0 million in cash. Late last month, UBM said it had completed the deal and would be returning GBP245.0 million of the proceeds to shareholders.
The CMA last month said it had been offered undertakings by Cision, which is owned by Chicago-based private equity house GTCR Canyon Holdings, which "might be accepted by the CMA to remedy the substantial lessening of competition identified by the CMA".
On Friday, the CMA said it had now accepted these undertaking and the acquisition will not be referred to a Phase 2 investigation. The CMA said the "undertakings which have been signed by GTCR will come into effect from this date".
Shares in UBM were up 0.2% at 637.50 pence on Friday afternoon.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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