Peter Freeman, who will lead the investigation into BSkyB’s ITV stake, was appointed chairman of the Competition Commission in January last year. The inquiry comes at a busy time – he is also chairing a market inquiry into Tesco’s acquisition of a store in Slough.

Since joining the commission in 2003, Mr Freeman, a barrister, has headed four inquiries into mergers and acquisitions, clearing all of them.

Mr Freeman’s acquisition and merger experience has so far been low-key. In 2005 he gave the green light to the acquisition by Archant of local London weekly newspapers formerly owned by Independent News and Media. Other mergers he has sanctioned have involved companies in the road sweeping, corrugated cardboard and microscope industries.

However, his experience in market inquiries affecting consumers has been more heavy-weight, leading to changes in their favour. As chairman of the market inquiry into doorstep lending, Mr Freeman ruled that customers were being overcharged due to lack of competition. As a result, measures are being introduced to open up the market through greater data-sharing. An inquiry into the supply of domestic bulk LPG led to measures to make it easier for consumers to switch providers.

After completing an MA in history and law at Trinity College, Cambridge, Mr Freeman, 59, studied law in London and Brussels, becoming a barrister in 1972. He joined Simmons & Simmons the following year, and was made a partner at the age of 30. He was head of the firm’s EC and competition law group between 1987 and 2003 and served as a managing partner of the commercial and trade law department.

He is co-founder and chairman of the Regulatory Policy Institute at Hertford College, Oxford, and a member of the advisory board of the Competition Law Journal. Until 2005, he was joint editor of Butterworths’ Competition Law.

Born in Portsmouth into a naval family, Mr Freeman spent most of his childhood in Bath. He stays in London during the week, returning home to his wife and four children in Bath at weekends. His interests include naval history.

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