UK be­gins in­quiry in­to As­traZeneca's $39B buy­out of Alex­ion

The UK’s Com­pe­ti­tion and Mar­kets Au­thor­i­ty opened an in­quiry on Tues­day in­to As­traZeneca’s pro­posed $39 bil­lion ac­qui­si­tion of Alex­ion.

By Ju­ly 21, the CMA says it will de­cide whether the deal will re­sult in a sub­stan­tial less­en­ing of com­pe­ti­tion with­in any mar­kets in the UK. Those look­ing to com­ment on the deal have un­til June 3.

But with the US Fed­er­al Trade Com­mis­sion sign­ing off on the ac­qui­si­tion in April, and nine oth­er coun­tries, in­clud­ing Brazil and Cana­da, fol­low­ing suit, all signs point to a pos­i­tive re­sult from the UK.

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