Read 2026-10-28
Buying a competitor
Most purchases of a competitor are too small for the CMA: it can review a merger where the target's UK turnover exceeds £100 million or a share of supply test is met, and a deal where each party turns over £10 million or less in the UK is outside it. A merger it investigates costs a fee from £40,000. Tell us what you want to buy and Joseph Ellul will reply himself.
Source: UK Competitor Acquisition Rules: every row, with its source
£40,000 £350,000,000
the cheapest to the dearest published price
2 of 16 providers read publish a price, read . Every price, with its source
Tell us what you want to buy
UK Competitor Acquisition Rules
Last updated
Each row is a threshold, fee or deadline read from the authority's own page through our fetch box on the date shown. It is the rule as published, not advice on your deal.
Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 3 of the 16 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 13 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in GBP (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 9 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the jurisdiction tests stated as a decision a buyer can run on their own figures (target UK turnover over £100m; a 25% share of supply; the 33% share plus £350m turnover hybrid; the safe harbour where each party's UK turnover is £10m or less), the fee band for the target's turnover, the NSI trigger levels and sectors, each with its authority page; plus the count of merger investigations per year from the CMA's own outcomes file
| Provider | Published figure | Read | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Security and Investment Act 2021 | 30 days | 2026-10-28 | National Security and Investment Act 2021 |
| How to pay merger investigation fees | £40,000 | 2026-10-28 | How to pay merger investigation fees |
| How to pay merger investigation fees | £80,000 | 2026-10-28 | How to pay merger investigation fees |
| How to pay merger investigation fees | £120,000 | 2026-10-28 | How to pay merger investigation fees |
| How to pay merger investigation fees | £160,000 | 2026-10-28 | How to pay merger investigation fees |
| Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 | £350 million | 2026-10-28 | Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 |
| Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 | £70 million | 2026-10-28 | Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 |
| Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 | £10 million | 2026-10-28 | Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 |
| How to pay merger investigation fees | publishes no price | 2026-10-28 | How to pay merger investigation fees |
| Mergers: guidance on jurisdiction and procedure | publishes no price | 2026-10-23 | Mergers: guidance on jurisdiction and procedure |
| Tell the CMA about your merger | publishes no price | 2026-10-28 | Tell the CMA about your merger |
| Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 | publishes no price | 2026-10-26 | Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 |
| The Enterprise Act 2002 (Merger Fees and Determination of Turnover) Order 2003 | publishes no price | 2026-10-28 | The Enterprise Act 2002 (Merger Fees and Determination of Turnover) Order 2003 |
| Merger assessment guidelines | publishes no price | 2026-10-28 | Merger assessment guidelines |
| Mergers | publishes no price | 2026-10-28 | Mergers |
| National Security and Investment Act 2021 | publishes no price | 2026-10-24 | National Security and Investment Act 2021 |
| The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (Notifiable Acquisition) (Specification of Q | publishes no price | 2026-10-28 | The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (Notifiable Acquisition) (Specification of Q |
| Merger investigation outcomes | publishes no price | 2026-10-28 | Merger investigation outcomes |
| Competition and Markets Authority cases and projects | publishes no price | 2026-10-28 | Competition and Markets Authority cases and projects |
| CMA Annual Report and Accounts 2025 to 2026 | publishes no price | 2026-10-28 | CMA Annual Report and Accounts 2025 to 2026 |
- The CMA's merger fee runs from £40,000 to £160,000 by the target's UK turnover. (UK Competitor Acquisition Rules)
- Published legal fees for a business purchase start at £500 (Rocket Lawyer UK) and £5,000 plus VAT (Gannons). (UK Acquisition Adviser Fee Index)
Cite this page
“UK Competitor Acquisition Rules”, Buying a Competitor, https://buyingacompetitor.co.uk/ (updated 2026-10-28). Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 3 of the 16 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 13 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in GBP (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 9 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the jurisdiction tests stated as a decision a buyer can run on their own figures (target UK turnover over £100m; a 25% share of supply; the 33% share plus £350m turnover hybrid; the safe harbour where each party's UK turnover is £10m or less), the fee band for the target's turnover, the NSI trigger levels and sectors, each with its authority page; plus the count of merger investigations per year from the CMA's own outcomes file
How it works
- Tell us the sector, the area, the price range and whether you would buy the shares or the assets. Two minutes, no account.
- Joseph Ellul reads the brief himself. Nothing is passed to a broker, a panel or a marketing list.
- You get a reply about what a search for that brief involves. Ask questions, carry on, or do nothing.
This is a free information site run by Joseph Ellul. When you send a brief, he reads it and replies to you himself; it is not passed to any broker or firm, and you pay nothing to ask. The site carries no advertising, no sponsored placement and no affiliate links, and no firm in a table has paid to be there. Every figure is read from the named firm's or authority's own public page on the date shown. Nothing here is tax, legal, regulated or investment advice; check the source before you rely on a row.
The questions we get
Does buying a competitor need CMA approval?
No approval is needed in advance; the UK regime is voluntary. The CMA can review a merger where the target's UK turnover exceeds £100 million, where the merged business would supply 25% or more of something in the UK, or under the hybrid test of a 33% share and £350 million of UK turnover, and a deal where each party's UK turnover is £10 million or less is outside its review. (UK Competitor Acquisition Rules)
What does the CMA charge to investigate a merger?
£40,000 where the target's UK turnover is £20 million or less, £80,000 up to £70 million, £120,000 up to £120 million and £160,000 above that. (CMA: how to pay merger fees)
Does the National Security and Investment Act apply?
Only where the competitor works in one of the Act's notifiable sectors and your stake crosses a set threshold. A notification, once accepted, is reviewed within 30 days. (UK Competitor Acquisition Rules)
What does the legal work cost?
Of 29 firms read, 2 print a starting fee: Rocket Lawyer UK from £500 and Gannons from £5,000 plus VAT to run the transaction. The rest quote per deal. (UK Acquisition Adviser Fee Index)
Who answers an enquiry from this page?
Joseph Ellul, who runs this site, reads every brief himself and replies directly. It is not passed to any broker or firm, and your details are not sold or shared with anyone.
The detail
Sourced, dated, kept current.
Buying a competitor business in the UK: the CMA tests, step by step
Buying a competitor business in the UK: run the CMA's jurisdiction tests on your own figures, the £10m safe harbour, the merger fee, and the NSI Act check.
Acquiring a competitor: legal fees and the other costs
What acquiring a competitor costs in the UK beyond the price: published legal fees from £500 and £5,000, the CMA fee where it applies, and stamp duty on shares.
Sources
This site's own datasets, every figure quoted from its source and dated:
- The UK Acquisition Adviser Fee Index carries 2 published figures read from 2 sources' own pages, from 500 to 5,000 GBP, read 28 October 2026.
- The UK Competitor Acquisition Rules carries 7 published figures read from 2 sources' own pages, from 40,000 to 350,000,000 GBP, read 28 October 2026.
- How to pay merger investigation fees
- How to pay merger investigation fees
- Mergers: guidance on jurisdiction and procedure
- Tell the CMA about your merger
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024
- The Enterprise Act 2002 (Merger Fees and Determination of Turnover) Order 2003
- Merger assessment guidelines