UK Watchdog Won't Refer Facebook's Planned Kustomer Buy for Further Review

   By Ian Walker 
 

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Monday that it won't refer Facebook Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Kustomer Inc. for a Phase 2 investigation.

The regulator had said in July that it was considering whether the deal would lessen competition within the U.K. markets. The CMA said Monday that it won't refer the merger for a further review based on the information currently available.

The deal is being looked at by the European Commission. The European Union's executive arm said last month that the proposed transaction could reduce competition in the customer relationship management software market.

An additional concern was that the deal would allow Facebook to further strengthen its position in the online display advertising market by increasing the already significant amount of data available to it for ad personalization, the Commission said on Aug. 2.

Facebook said in November that it would buy Kustomer, a startup that specializes in customer-service platforms and chatbots. People familiar with the matter said the deal would value Kustomer at a little more than $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

Write to Ian Walker at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 27, 2021 09:28 ET (13:28 GMT)

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