The UK’s competition watchdog, the CMA, has “sufficient information” to launch an investigation into the takeover of convenience chain McColl’s by Morrisons.

The supermarket brokered a £190m rescue deal in May when McColl’s fell into administration. Shortly afterwards, the CMA filed an initial enforcement order suggesting it would probe the deal.

Now, it says it has sufficient information to launch a formal inquiry with a September deadline for a phase-one decision – the first stage in its merger review process.

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