ACCC not to oppose acquisition of Alinta by Singapore Power and Babcock and Brown

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will not intervene in the acquisition of Alinta by a consortium involving Singapore Power and Babcock and Brown, after accepting court enforceable undertakings from Singapore Power and Babcock and Brown subsidiaries," ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.

Under the proposed scheme of arrangement by which the consortium would acquire Alinta, a suite of assets including Alinta's gas and electricity assets, a 35 per cent interest in the Australian Pipeline Trust, and shares in Australian Pipeline Limited, would be allocated between Singapore Power and Babcock and Brown. 

"Competition concerns arose in relation to the potential aggregation of interests in competing gas pipelines in New South Wales and Western Australia," Mr Samuel said. "These issues arose from the proposed acquisition by the consortium of Alinta's 35 per cent interest in the Australian Pipeline Trust together with a number of Alinta's assets.

"Further the acquisition was likely to result in the integration of electricity generation and retail assets with upstream gas pipeline interests in Western Australia.

"The undertakings ensure that Alinta's 35 per cent interest in APT, which owns the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline and the Parmelia Pipeline, as well as the operating and maintenance contracts for the Moomba to Sydney and Parmelia pipelines, and the APL shares, are divested. The APT units, and the operating and maintenance contracts will be ring-fenced from the consortium parties' respective businesses until they are divested." 

The undertakings also require the Babcock and Brown Infrastructure Fund to ensure that information relating to the operation of the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline in Western Australia is not disclosed to other Babcock and Brown entities including the Babcock and Brown Power Fund.  The Babcock and Brown Power Fund operates energy businesses that obtain gas supply from the Dampier to Bunbury Pipeline and which compete against other businesses who also rely upon the pipeline for their supplies of gas.

The undertakings will be available on the ACCC's website, shortly. A Public Competition Assessment will be available on the ACCC's website in due course.