Mccoll's Regulatory News (MCLS)

20 December 2016

McColl's welcomes CMA's approval of transformational acquisition of 298 Co-op stores

McColl's Retail Group ("McColl's"), one of the UK's leading convenience retailers, welcomes today's decision by the Competition & Markets Authority ("CMA") to give final and unconditional approval to its acquisition of 298 convenience stores from the Co-operative Group Limited ("the Co-op") that was announced on 13 July 2016.

McColl's will begin to integrate the stores in late January 2017 and expects all conversions to be completed by the end of August 2017. At this point convenience stores will comprise over three quarters of McColl's total estate, representing the achievement of another significant milestone for the business.

Jonathan Miller, Chief Executive, McColl's said:

"We are delighted that the CMA has approved our acquisition of these 298 quality convenience stores. This is a transformational deal, which substantially accelerates our growth strategy and expands our neighbourhood presence for the benefit of our customers.

"We have a long history and proven track record of successfully integrating convenience stores into our estate, and we expect these newly acquired stores to make a significant contribution to our future strategic plans."

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About McColl's Retail Group

McColl's is a leading neighbourhood retailer in the independent managed sector running 1,375 convenience and newsagent stores. We operate 1,001 McColl's branded UK convenience stores as well as 374 newsagents branded Martin's, except in Scotland where we operate under our heritage brand, RS McColl. In addition we are also the largest operator of Post Offices in the UK.