Regulator probe sinks port deal

A $1.2-BILLION takeover bid of GeelongPort has collapsed after the consumer watchdog intervened due to market competition concerns.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that an investment syndicate had pulled out of a plan to buy the city’s ship freight centre amid an ongoing investigation into the deal.

Superannuation fund Spirit Super and investment firm Palisade Investment Partners had struck a deal in January to buy the port for a widely-reported figure of $1.2 billion before the ACCC stepped in.

Palisade, which had agreed to a 49-per-cent stake in Geelong’s port, already owns the Port of Portland in south-west Victoria.

Geelong handles 40 per cent of Victoria’s bulk cargo, while Portland accounts for 20 per cent.

Super Spirit also has minority interest in Flinders ports, which manages seven ports across South Australia.

The ACCC launched an inquiry into the matter shortly after it was announced, and in March released an issues statement outlining its preliminary competition concerns.

Further requests for information in the ensuing months lead to the investment consortium withdrawing its merger clearance, the watchdog said.

“We were concerned the common fund management and ownership interests between the Port of Geelong and the Port of Portland would reduce competition for customers between the ports over the medium to long term,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

“Common fund management and ownership that allow a degree of control or influence by minority interests have the potential to detrimentally effect competition.”