January 12, 2017
On the heels of an announcement by Cardtronics PLC, of the completion of its acquisition of Canada-based DirectCash Payments, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has issued an initial enforcement order that prevents integration of the companies' operations within the U.K. while the CMA investigates potential anticompetitive impact.
Last year, Cardtronics secured stockholder approval to redomicile the company from the U.S. to the U.K. DC Payments operates 5,700 ATMs in the U.K.
Cardtronics acknowledged in a press release announcing the finalized deal that the addition of the U.K. ATMs to its portfolio was contingent upon approval by the CMA. As yet, the CMA has not published a timetable for its investigation.
Cardtronics is the third ATM industry player in recent months to receive notice of a CMA inquiry.
The Diebold-Wincor Nixdorf combination came under scrutiny from the authority in August. The company submitted remedies for CMA areas of concern and awaits a final decision — due by Feb. 13 — on the acceptability of its proposal.
More recently, a proposed acquisition by MasterCard of VocaLink, operator of the UK Link ATM network, has drawn the CMA's attention. The authority has given MasterCard and VocaLink until Jan. 11 to offer "acceptable undertakings" to remedy the authority's concerns about "a substantial lessening of competition" resulting from the merger.
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