Brightsolid Group Limited and Friends Reunited Holdings Limited

A Report On The Anticipated Acquisition by Brightsolid Group Limited of Friends Reunited Holdings Limited

Author:

Competition Commission

Publisher:

TSO (The Stationery Office)

Price: £41.00

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On 02 November 2009, the Office of Fair Trading referred the anticipated acquisition by Brightsolid Group Limited (Brightsolid) of Friends Reunited Holdings Limited (Friends) to the Competition Commission for investigation and report.

Brightsolid is a wholly-owned subsidiary of DC Thomson & Co Ltd. Its subsidiary, Find My Past Limited, operates as a leader of projects to digitize, transcribe and index historical records, and as an online retailer of data relevant to family history. Friends is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITV plc (ITV). Its subsidiary, Genes Reunited, operates a social networking family history website, which also provides its users with access to a number of historical records. There is no evidence to suggest that either company would exit from the market in the absence of the merger.

Both companies operate as providers of online family history data and other services and are two of the three largest suppliers of online genealogy services in the UK.

Key content:

• The industry and the companies

• The proposed acquisition

• Rationale for the acquisition

• Market definition

• Jurisdiction

• Counterfactual

• Competitive effects of the acquisition.

Extent	128 pages	ISBN	9780117068544
Size	A4	Price	£41.00
Format	Paperback	Published	26 Apr 2010
Availability	Colour copy: 3 - 5 days	Delivery	Delivery options and charges