The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) says it will look into the acquisition by Morrisons of 30 former Co-operative Group stores to see if there are any competition concerns.
The OFT said it would ascertain whether the deal will substantially lessen competition within any market, in which case it will refer the acquisition to the Competition for further investigation.
Morrisons said in January it was waiting for approval to complete the acquisition of 38 Co-operative Food and former Somerfield stores from the Co-op and expected the handover to take place in stages over a period of up to six months.
The deal, first announced in December 2008, will add more than half a million square foot of selling space, at a cost of £223m.
