By Edith Hancock

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority should clear Global Business Travel Group's $570 million acquisition of CWT Holdings, the regulator's experts have said after initially raising concerns the deal could raise prices for business travel customers.

Following a further review into the merger the U.K. regulator said Tuesday that CWT is a significantly weaker competitor than in the past and is likely to continue to weaken in the future.

"In this case, having considered all of the evidence in the round, particularly the further analysis of CWT's financial position, we have now provisionally concluded that the merger will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in corporate travel management services," Martin Coleman, chair of the panel of experts conducting this investigation, said.

The regulator decided to launch an in-depth investigation into the deal last year, saying the merged company is likely to substantially weaken competition in the business travel sector.

The CMA said Tuesday that it wants to hear feedback from its latest report, setting a Feb. 25 deadline for comments. The watchdog is expected to make its final decision on the deal by March 9.

GBT and CWT's deal was announced in March 2024, prompting the CMA to open its merger probe on July 30. It is also being scrutinized in the U.S., where the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to block it on Jan. 10.

"The updated provisional conclusions by the CMA is an important milestone toward the consummation of the transaction," Eric Bock, GBT's chief legal officer, said in a statement Tuesday. The CMA's new findings reinforce the company's belief that the U.S. lawsuit is "fundamentally flawed" and disregards numerous competitors in the space, he said.

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2025 12:04 ET (17:04 GMT)

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