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LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - Britain's competition regulator on Friday invited all interested parties in the proposed deal to combine Sainsbury's with Walmart's Asda to comment on the impact it could have.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), as part of its usual process, said the invitation to comment was the first part of its information-gathering process, in advance of a formal investigation starting.
Interested parties have until June 4 to respond.
Last month's 7.3 billion pounds ($9.87 billion) cash and shares deal will see Sainsbury's combine with Asda to overtake Tesco as Britain's biggest supermarket group. ($1 = 0.7399 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)