UK regulator investigates Just Eat and Takeaway.com's billion pound deal

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it is launching an investigation into the merger between Takeaway.com and Just Eat.

The food delivery companies, which announced the merger earlier this month, have delayed their proposed timeline by a week to account for the investigation.

Takeaway.com, which is headquartered in the Netherlands, withdrew from the UK market three years ago, and acquired Just Eat in a £5.9bn deal.

The investigation will examine how the merger could affect the food delivery industry, which is currently a highly competitive market.

The CMA said it is interested in “whether the creation of that [merger] may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.”

Takeaway.com has said it believes that the investigation is centred on whether it had been planning to re-enter the UK market had it not acquired Just Eat.

In a statement, it said: “Takeaway.com confirms that it did not have the intention to re-enter the UK market absent the transaction with Just Eat.”

The news follows a months-long investigation by the CMA into retail giant Amazon’s million-dollar investment into Just Eat competitor Deliveroo.