The Competition Commision may ask UK Supermarket Tesco to sell its portfolio of land designated for future development when it publishes its paper on UK supermarkets later this month.
At least two of the six panel members are said to have argued that speculative acquisition of land acts as a barrier to new players entering the market. Tesco is thought to own 55% of the 319 undeveloped land banks in question. The Office of Fair Trading referred supermarkets to the UK's Competition Commission in 2006. It is thought to be unlikely that individual supermarkets will be named and shamed, but any formal decisions may affect some chains more than others.