On April 3, 2025, the UK Competition and Markets Authority published a clearance decision regarding its approval of the anticipated purchase of The Famous Grouse, Naked Malt and affiliate brands from Highland Distillers Limited by William Grant & Sons Group (“WG&S”). WG&S is a global producer and supplier of spirits, including single malt, blended malt and blended Scotch whiskey. The CMA announced that the merger was approved on March 6, 2025, after it launched a merger inquiry in January 2025 into the substantial lessening of competition (“SLC”) in the Scotch whiskey market caused by the acquisition.
According to the published decision, the acquisition was approved after the CMA determined that the merger did not raise competition concerns on any plausible basis. Specifically, the CMA investigated the merger’s effect on the UK market’s supply of blended Scotch to off-trade customers and the supply of grain “new make” spirit, an essential input in the supply of blended Scotch. The CMA determined that, following the merger, there would be a sufficient number of competitors in the blended Scotch and international whiskey markets to exert material competitive constraints on the merged entity. While the CMA believed that the merged entity will be the largest new make supplier with a relatively high share of supply, there was evidence to suggest that there were alternate providers of new make as well as multiple competitors that would be willing to increase the production of new make if there was a demand. According to the CMA, WG&S’ business strategy also included the provision of a certain percentage of new make to third parties – a strategy that was supported by internal documents. Based on this evidence and other findings, the CMA concluded that the merger does not give rise to a realistic prospect of SLC in the supply of non-premium blended scotch to off-trade customers in the UK and the supply of new make to blended Scotch competitors.
CMA Assessment | CMA- William Grant & Sons/The Famous Grouse merger inquiry