Vacant property security firm acquisition blocked by Competition Commission

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities

The Competition Commission (CC) has not approved the merger of two vacant property security firms.

VPS Holdings Ltd's acquisition of SitexOrbis Holdings Ltd was referred to the CC by the Office of Fair Trading in March this year.

The CC provisionally held that the completed acquisition could harm competition in the UK.

Since then, the two companies have been operating separately.

Both firms specialise in the security of vacant property, and count local authorities, residential and commercial landlords, retailers and insurance firms among their clients.

David Walker, CEO of SitexOrbis, said: "Since the announcement of the Competition Commission’s preliminary findings we have anticipated that the acquisition would not be allowed to stand.

“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."