By Muvija M and Paul Sandle
LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Britain aims to overhaul its competition regime, pledging to make it “faster, more predictable and more proportionate”, launching a formal consultation on what could be a major overhaul of one of the world’s toughest regulatory frameworks.
The government said it planned to speed up and simplify anti-trust probes, “working closely with the CMA (competition regulator) while preserving its independence”.
The consultation proposes changes to the way the CMA makes decisions in mergers and market investigations, to ensure that market remedies are regularly reviewed, and to provide greater certainty for businesses about whether deals will face merger control, she added.
“These proposals, which will be taken forward in close collaboration with the CMA, will not change the CMA’s decision-making independence from Ministers,” she added.
The CMA said on Monday it would review its historical interventions to check whether they were still needed to ease the compliance burden, identifying 33 market remedies – 60% of all those in place – that may no longer be needed.
The government also said the state-owned development bank will invest 25 million pounds ($34 million) in Kraken Technologies in its largest direct financing, backing the AI energy software firm ahead of a potential London listing.
The investment in Kraken – valued at $8.45 billion following its spin-off from UK-based Octopus Energy last year – follows reforms to the British Business Bank’s mandate that will allow it to take larger, higher-risk stakes in major scale-ups, the government said.
“For too long, Britain’s most promising companies have had to look abroad for the support they need to grow,” said business minister Peter Kyle.
“We’re betting big on the industries where Britain can win, backing our innovators with real firepower, and cutting the red tape that holds them back.”
BBB, owned by the government’s business department but operationally independent, will separately invest 50 million pounds each in venture capital firms Epidarex Capital and IQ Capital, the statement said.
Kraken, which supplies energy software to utilities and energy groups – including EDF, National Grid US and Tokyo Gas -, has 70 million global customers and “may list in London” after its demerger, the government added.
($1 = 0.7448 pounds)
(Reporting by Muvija M and Paul SandleEditing by Mark Potter and David Gregorio)