OFT doesn’t approve of SiteOrbix with VPS

29 August 2012

The Competition Commission (CC) announced that it has not approved the completed acquisition of SitexOrbis Holdings by VPS Holdings.

This decision follows referral to the CC by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in March this year, and an announcement from the CC in June that it had provisionally decided that the completed acquisition by VPS Holdings Limited of SitexOrbis Holdings Limited could harm competition in the UK.

“Since the announcement of the Competition Commission’s preliminary findings we have anticipated that the acquisition would not be allowed to stand,” said David Walker, CEO of SitexOrbis. “Friday’s announcement confirms what we expected and we are well prepared to deal with all matters arising and we continue to view the future with excitement. Our confidence is demonstrated by our recent addition of a number of sales professionals to work across all parts of our business.”

“SitexOrbis and VPS have been operating separately during the investigation by the OFT and Competition Commission and that will continue for the next few months while a new buyer is found. SitexOrbis has been renowned for its high levels of customer service and we have worked hard to ensure that the acquisition has not affected our service delivery over the period since the acquisition. The announcement does not change our continued commitment to deliver excellent service to our customers.”

“The possibility of SitexOrbis’ Northern Ireland business transferring to VPS will present a number of practical challenges. However, we are confident that any difficulties will be quickly resolved and that SitexOrbis will continue to have an effective operational capacity across the whole of the UK”, Walker concluded.