UK watchdog investigates Morrisons' purchase of McColl's

(Reuters) -Britain's antitrust watchdog said on Wednesday it has started investigating if supermarket group Morrisons' acquisition of certain assets of convenience store chain McColl's would lead to lesser competition.

Morrisons in May bought 1,160 McColl's stores in a so-called pre-pack administration.

The Competition and Markets Authority has set a deadline of Sept. 8 for its initial decision.

Morrisons, which trails market leader Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, has a wholesale supply deal with McColl's.

McColl's has seen over 200 stores converted to Morrison's Daily stores with a target of 450 by November 2022.

McColl's went into administration with debt of just under 170 million pounds ($201.98 million) and its stock was suspended from trading in May.

Morrisons and McColl's did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

($1 = 0.8417 pounds)

(Reporting by Muhammed Husain in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta)