GXO’s acquisition of Clipper unconditionally cleared in Phase I

The CMA has unconditionally cleared the acquisition of Clipper Logistics by GXO Logistics following a Phase I investigation.The investigation focused on the horizontal overlaps between the companies’ activities in the market for contract logistics services (‘CLS’) in the UK. The CMA also considered whether different types of (end)customers warrant a separate market.As CLS is a bidding market, the CMA’s investigation placed greater weight on the closeness of competition through bidding data, third party views and internal documents, rather than relying on market shares. The CMA concluded that the parties are not particularly close competitors and that sufficient competitors remain in the market. The decision also acknowledges the in-house provision of CLS by customers as a constraint to the merged entity.RBB assisted GXO Logistics throughout pre-notification and Phase I, working alongside Freshfields.