UK watchdog says Cochlear's Oticon Medical purchase can hurt competition

London: A UK regulator said on Thursday that Australian hearing device maker Cochlear's acquisition of Demant's hearing implants unit could hurt competition and lead to high prices for the National Health Service.

The 850 million Danish crowns ($125.1 million) merger between two of the biggest players in the UK's hearing implant sector could lead to worse outcomes for the patients, who rely on these life-changing hearing implants and higher prices for the state-owned NHS, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in a statement.

Responding to the CMA findings, Cochlear said it disagreed with the conclusions drawn by the regulator, adding that the group along with Demant would continue to "engage constructively" to address the concerns raised by the watchdog. Demant did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Cochlear also said that the deal was no longer expected to be closed before June 30. The CMA has set a June 5 deadline for the in-depth probe.

The proposed merger of Cochlear and Oticon Medical, the hearing implants division of Demant, was referred for an in-depth probe by the CMA in December last year.

The regulator said the proposed merger would leave just a single supplier of passive bone conductive solution (BCS) products in the UK and merged businesses would dominate the supply of BCS products in the country, with a share well above 90 per cent.

The deal is under investigation by the European Union (EU) antitrust regulators as well, who had warned that the merger is a significant threat to the European market.