Richard Desmond's acquisition of Express Newspapers was never under threat from the competition authorities.
Newspaper deals are regulated by the Fair Trading Act of 1973, which posed no problems for Mr Desmond and his Northern & Shell publishing empire.
It states that all purchases by newspaper proprietors whose titles, including those to be bought, have an average paid-for circulation of 500,000 or more must seek the consent of the secretary of state for trade and industry.
In nearly all cases the secretary of state will refer the deal to the competition commission, which will launch an inquiry.
However, the Express case was an anomaly. At the time of the deal, Mr Desmond did not own any newspapers and it was clear there were no competition issues involved in a magazine publisher buying three national newspapers.
Stephen Byers, the then secretary of state for trade and industry, sought the advice of the director general of fair trading, John Vickers, on whether or not to unleash regulators on the case.
Mr Vickers saw no grounds for an inquiry and Mr Byers rubber-stamped the deal.
The competition commission can also block all mergers and acquisitions on "public interest" grounds, but this normally involves checking the interests of consumers are protected, and the guidelines do not have a strong moral edge.
"Personally, I am not convinced there was a case for the competition commission," said Howard Cartlidge, partner at Olswang, the media law specialist.
However, if the merger involves a newspaper proprietor buying another newspaper, strict guidelines on "accurate presentation of news" and "free expression of opinion" are applied.
A precedent was set in 1990 when David Sullivan, publisher of the Daily Sport, was prevented from taking over the Bristol Evening Post by the then monopolies and mergers commission, as the competition commission was then called.
Although there was no reason to block the takeover on competition grounds, the MMC decided Mr Sullivan's ownership of the newspaper group "could harm the standing of the papers in their community".
At the time the MMC said: "Mr Sullivan could be expected to influence editorial policy and the character and content of these papers and this would harm both the accurate presentation of news and the free expression of opinion. We also consider that the acquisition could harm the standing of the papers in their community and that there could be some adverse effects on circulation."
But Mr Desmond would never have been caught out by these provisions, because he was not an existing newspaper owner and the Express did not have a monopoly position in its market, unlike the Bristol Evening Post.
The secretary of state can also demand undertakings on editorial independence from the new owners. Mr Desmond later bowed to pressure from his own staff and set up an editorial board last year.
Newspaper mergers and acquisitions will be dealt with by the competition watchdogs from next year onwards, following the introduction of the new communications bill.
The secretary of state can refer acquisitions to the competition commission if they raise public interest issues over accurate presentation of the news, free expression of opinion and plurality of views in the press.