Watchdog undertakes stock-take of assets

THE ownership of key UK assets such as airports is being put under the microscope to assess potential consumer risks, the competition watchdog said.
By The Newsroom
Published 14th May 2010, 22:14 BST
Updated 14th May 2010, 22:14 BST

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is launching a "stock-take" of infrastructure such as ports, energy firms, car parks and water companies, to be completed in the autumn. The move is "to clarify public understanding of ownership and control" and follows around 150bn of investment in UK economic infrastructure during the last five years.

Heather Clayton, senior director of the OFT's infrastructure group, said: "There have been significant changes in ownership of infrastructure assets in both regulated and unregulated sectors of the economy over the past decade.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We want to take this opportunity to step back and assess how these developments might have affected competition and consumers."

The OFT is not responding to any specific complaints and is stopping short of a full market study, but said the stock-take may "lead to further work".

The watchdog is focusing on various forms of ownership such as private equity and infrastructure investment funds – as well as looking at the effect on consumers of buy-outs backed by high levels of debt.