New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has published a statement of preliminary issues outlining the key competition concerns that will influence its decision whether to authorise Infratil’s proposed acquisition of 50% of the shares in Vodafone New Zealand. The regulator has expressed concern about the possible impact on competition, given that Infratil already owns 51% of the virtual operator Trustpower. Interested parties are invited to submit comments on the likely competitive effects of the deal before 14 June, while a final decision on the application is scheduled to be made before 15 July 2019.
As previous reported by TeleGeography, Vodafone Group announced on 14 May that it had agreed a NZD3.4 billion (USD2.2 billion) deal to sell 100% of its New Zealand operations to a consortium comprising local investment firm Infratil and Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management.