LIVERPOOL: The Office of Fair Trading has cleared the acquisition of Liverpool-based Arena Housing Group by Manchester's Harvest Housing Group.
The OFT announced in June it was considering whether the deal would result in a reduction of competition in the social housing sector, but it has now decided there is no need for further investigation.
The merger, completed in April, created one of the UK's largest housing groups, with 32 000 properties and a combined turnover of £150m.
Following the deal, the enlarged outfit became known as Your Housing and has its headquarters in Warrington. It is led by chief executive Brian Cronin, former chief executive of Arena.
