UK Antitrust Regulator Greenlights , Amazon’s $1.7B iRobot Acquisition.<br />UK Antitrust Regulator Greenlights , Amazon’s $1.7B iRobot Acquisition.<br />Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has determined that the agreement "would not lead to competition concerns in the U.K.," TechCrunch reports. .<br />According to the CMA, iRobot only has a "modest" market position in the U.K. and already has a handful of rivals.<br />The European Commission will make a decision on the matter by July 6.<br />The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering <br />an investigation into the deal as well. .<br />While different regulators usually cooperate with each other and share notes, they could still decide to block the deal.<br />The merging parties will no doubt take comfort from the CMA clearance although they will also know that the different regulatory agencies do not always operate in complete lock-step with one another, Alex Haffner, competition partner at U.K.-based law firm Fladgate, via statement .<br />The CMA's decision will likely serve to <br />address criticism over the way it's stopped mergers in <br />the past, particularly deals involving American companies.<br />The CMA's decision will likely serve to <br />address criticism over the way it's stopped mergers in <br />the past, particularly deals involving American companies.<br />The clearance decision is a <br />useful riposte to allegations, which <br />have taken on particular prominence recently in the light of Microsoft/Activision acquisition, that the CMA is anti-tech or unduly stifling economic growth in the sector, Alex Haffner, competition partner at U.K.-based law firm Fladgate, via statement .<br />In reality though, the ‘fundamentals’ <br />of this deal means that the CMA’s assessment was far less controversial than in other tech-based cases given in particular <br />iRobot’s low market-share, Alex Haffner, competition partner at U.K.-based law firm Fladgate, via statement
