Blackstone, the US private equity group, has been cleared by the competition authorities for its recent acquisition of UGC's UK and Ireland operations. A company spokesperson said that Blackstone must dispose of six cinemas that it proposed to the OFT in order for the deal to go through. The six chains are in Boldon, Harlow, Swindon, Wigan, Birmingham and Ealing/Slough. In 2004 Blackstone bought Cine-UK, the UK cinema chain, and the six chains to be disposed of are the overlap between UGC and Cine-UK in the UK, the spokesperson added.