HMV's Ottakar's takeover gets formal go ahead

The Competition Commission has formally given the go ahead for HMV to take over independent bookseller Ottakar's, following its issuing of a provisional OK back in March. The Commission says that merging Ottakar's in with HMV's existing book chain Waterstones would not lead to a "substantial lessening of competition". HMV are yet to confirm that they will now proceed with the takeover, though insiders say that, given the delays in getting to this point, they will probably be able to get the book chain for a lower price, which is nice. For them.