KEY POINTS:
If Australian-based company Transpacific Industries had been given approval to snap up a South Island waste management company, several markets would have suffered, the Commerce Commission said on Friday.
The commission has published its reasons for declining in May to allow Transpacific to acquire EnviroWaste Services and up to half of Manawatu Waste.
Commission chairwoman Paula Rebstock said because of high barriers to entry and the high market shares of Transpacific after the acquisition, the commission could not be satisfied that Transpacific would be constrained by existing or potential competitors in the waste market.
The move could have lessened competition among wheelie bin-refuse bag collectors in Wanganui, Palmerston North and Dunedin; certain front-end-load waste collection markets from Taupo to Dunedin, the refuse transfer station market in Wanganui and the national multi-regional waste management market.
EnviroWaste Services is fully owned by Ironbridge Capital, an Australian private equity firm.
- NZPA
