ACCC won't oppose AGL, Alinta merger

The competition watchdog says it won't oppose the proposed merger of The Australian Gas Light Co Ltd and Alinta Ltd.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel said it had decided not to oppose the merger after accepting court enforceable undertakings from Alinta.
"Our concerns arose principally in relation to the aggregation of ownership interests in gas pipeline interests in New South Wales and Western Australia", Mr Samuel said.
In particular, the ACCC was concerned about aggregation of interests in the Eastern Gas Pipeline and the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline and aggregation of interests in the Dampier to Bunbury Pipeline and the Parmelia Pipeline.
"By ring fencing Alinta's interests in the Australian Pipeline Trust, the owner of the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline and Parmelia Pipeline, and providing for the eventual divestment of that interest, Alinta has alleviated these gas pipeline aggregation competition concerns," he said.
Alinta has also committed to divest AGL's contracts for the supply of management and operational services to the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline and Parmelia Pipeline.
But ACCC will conduct further market inquiries to determine whether divestment of these contracts is required.
It has invites comment from the market before it making a decision.
After a long and heated courtship, which saw both of the energy companies launch hostile takeovers for each other, AGL and Alinta announced in April they had reached agreement on a $6.8 billion merger deal.
Alinta will acquire AGL's infrastructure business, Agility, for $6.45 billion to become the country's biggest energy infrastructure company with $14 billion in assets under management.
AGL will take an initial 33 per cent of Alinta's West Australian retail and co-generation business, making it Australia's largest energy retailer.
The ACCC had been concerns that Alinta's expanded presence in gas transmission in NSW, through the Easter Gas and Moomba pipelines, could be anti-competitive.
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