Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Monopoly definition

What does Monopoly mean? In legal practice, monopoly describes a market in which a single undertaking faces little effective competitive constraint and can act to a significant extent independently of customers, competitors or consumers. The term is descriptive rather than defined in UK or Irish legislation: modern competition law targets dominance and its abuse, not “monopolies” per se. Across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Competition Act 1998 (Chapter II) and the Enterprise Act 2002 are applied by the CMA (and sector regulators). In Ireland, Section 5 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 (aligned with EU law) prohibits abuse of a...

UK water mergers regime: CC clears South Staffordshire plc’s acquisition of Cambridge Water plc; no substantial prejudice to Ofwat’s comparators or price control benchmarking (2012)

Published by a LexisNexis Competition expert

Practice notes

CASE HUB ARCHIVED – this archived case hub sets out the position as at the decision dated 31 May 2012; it is no longer being maintained. See the timeline.

Case facts

Outline of a UK merger investigation into the completed acquisition of Cambridge Water Plc by South Staffordshire Plc.

Latest developments

On 31 May 2012, the CC granted unconditional clearance to the merger.

Parties

South Staffordshire Plc (SS): supplies drinking water from the edge of Ashborne in the north to Halesowen in the south, and from Burton on Trent in the east across to Kinver in the west.
Cambridge Water Plc (CAM): provides drinking water to the City of Cambridge.

Background

The parties serve a wide customer base that includes a range of caterers, retailers such as convenience stores, and other businesses and traders. Their largest national competitors are Bestway and Costco...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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