The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Tuesday that it has referred Experian PLC's (EXPN.LN) 275 million pound ($361.4 million) acquisition of ClearScore Ltd. for further investigation after the companies failed to address its previous concerns.
The CMA said on July 20 that the deal may reduce competition for people who want to check their credit score and sought a remedy from the companies to address its concerns. It gave them until July 27 to offer a solution.
It said Tuesday that Experian has chosen not to offer proposals to address the CMA's concerns and so the merger will now be referred for an in-depth investigation by an independent group of CMA panel members. It has set a deadline of Jan. 14, 2019 for the final decision.
The CMA's initial investigation found that the merged company would be less likely to innovate to help people better understand their finances, potentially leading to people paying more for credit cards and loans.
Experian announced in March that it was buying ClearScore and said at the time that it hoped to complete the deal later this year. It said that the deal was subject to regulatory approval by both the CMA and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.
Experian shares at 0715 GMT were down 5 pence, or 0.3%, at 1880.50 pence.
Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749