OFT mulls Lebedev's Independent buy

25th Feb 2010 16:39

The Office of Fair Trading is mulling whether to refer the proposed takeover of the Independent and Independent on Sunday by Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev to a formal competition investigation. The Russian already owns the Evening Standard in London and the OFT will consider whether merging it with the predominately London-focused Independent titles will mean a substantial lessening of competition.Lebedev, who bought the Standard last year for a nominal fee, had been expected to conclude a deal ahead of cash-strapped owner Independent News and Media's next results, which are due in March.The OFT wants any comments on the deal from interested parties in writing by 11 March.