Family historians will benefit from Dundee company brightsolid’s purchase of social networking site Friends Reunited from ITV for £25 million, the Competition Commission said yesterday.
The commission formally cleared the takeover after it was asked to investigate the purchase in November last year because Friends Reunited owns Genes Reunited, and its proposed new owner is brightsolid, which runs findmypast.com and 1911census.com
Together they are two of the three largest suppliers of online genealogy services in the UK.
The inquiry chairwoman Laura Carstensen said, “After the merger another website, Ancestry.co.uk, will remain the largest supplier in this market and its presence along with potential entry by new suppliers and the alternatives provided by free sites, will ensure that the merged company faces strong competition — preventing it from raising prices or worsening the service it provides.
“In fact, the merger could potentially benefit amateur family historians as the merged company will be better equipped to compete directly with ancestry.co.uk, leading to more innovation and improvements in the market.”
The private limited company brightsolid is wholly owned by publishers DC Thomson Ltd with more than 60 staff in offices in Dundee, Edinburgh and London.
Chief executive Chris van der Kuyl said, “It is fantastic news to finally get the green light from the Competition Commission for the completion of the deal.
“It has certainly been a frustrating period for all involved and meant that we were unable to take any control of the brands until this point.
“We’re now looking forward to working with the team at Friends Reunited Group to agreeing and implementing the new ideas to shape the direction of this exciting business.”