By Maitane Sardon

The U.K.'s competition watchdog said Wednesday that Hitachi Rail's proposed acquisition of Thales's transportation-systems business won't reduce competition in the supply of communications-based train control signalling systems in the U.K.

The Competition and Markets Authority said that it has found new evidence that supports the conclusion that Hitachi won't be a credible bidder to supply communications-based train control, or CBTC, signalling systems to the London Underground in the near to medium term as it had found initially.

It said that the update doesn't change its provisional assessment that the merger is likely to lead to a "substantial lessening of competition" regarding the supply of digital mainline signalling.

Thales and Hitachi Rail entered into negotiations for the sale of the ground transportation systems business in August 2021 for an enterprise value of 1.66 billion euros ($1.80 billion). Thales said it aims to close the acquisition within the second half of 2023.

Write to Maitane Sardon at maitane.sardon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 23, 2023 03:48 ET (07:48 GMT)

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