The proposed merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster was given a boost today when a British regulatory body dropped its objections and approved the deal.
Britain's Competition Commission had laid out its concerns in a provisional ruling, saying music fans could wind up paying more to see live shows under the deal to combine the world's largest concert promoter with the ticketing group.
It also said a merger could hurt an existing partner of Live Nation's CTS Eventim AG in a statement in October that hit both groups' share prices. But the commission said today it had now dropped these concerns after further investigation.
"The Competition Commission (CC) has concluded that the merger will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in the market for live music ticket retailing or in any other market in the UK, including live music promotion and live music venues," it said.
"The CC has found that the merger will make little difference to the prospects of Eventim's success in the UK."
Reuters