Britain clears Greencore, Bakkavor's $1.6-billion food group merger

Dec ‌17 (Reuters) - Britain's competition regulator has ‍cleared ‌the proposed 1.2-billion-pound ($1.61 billion) merger between ⁠convenience food ‌manufacturers Greencore and Bakkavor on Wednesday, scrapping an in-depth probe into the ⁠companies.

The Competition and Markets Authority, which launched ​its probe into the deal ‌in September, said ⁠it had accepted undertakings from the companies to address its ​competition concerns. 

Bakkavor's retail customers include Tesco, M&S and Waitrose, while Greencore supplies to all major UK ​supermarkets.

In ‍a separate ​statement on Wednesday, Greencore and Bakkavor said the deal is now expected to be completed by January 16. 

Upon completion of the deal, ⁠Greencore shareholders will hold roughly 56% of the ​combined entity, while Bakkavor shareholders are expected to own the remaining 44%.  

($1 = 0.7473 pounds)

(Reporting ‌by DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)