Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has had discussions with Electronic Arts on the potential impact of its proposed acquisition by PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners on the level of jobs and investment in the UK.

Under competition law, responsibility for investigating the impact of mergers and acquisitions on competition falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s independent competition authority. The government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers and expertise to investigate the benefits and risks of mergers in relation to competition.

In some cases Ministers can intervene on public interest grounds, but these are limited to matters relating to financial stability, media plurality and public health emergencies.