Australia Regulator Defers Decision on Shell's Takeover of BG
September 17 2015 - 1:20AM
Dow Jones News
MELBOURNE, Australia—Australia's antitrust regulator has again
deferred a decision on Royal Dutch Shell PLC's planned takeover of
BG Group PLC, raising concerns about competition and the supply of
natural gas to the domestic market.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission said its
preliminary view of the proposed deal was that it could decrease
the incentive for Shell's Arrow Energy joint venture with
PetroChina Co. to supply gas domestically, which could
substantially less competition in Queensland state or the eastern
Australian gas market.
By reducing the supply of gas to the domestic market, the
planned takeover could increase the market power of a limited
number of other supplies domestically, which could lead to higher
prices, the regulator said.
The ACCC has invited submissions on its concerns by Oct. 8 and
said in a statement it proposes making a final decision on the deal
on Nov. 12.
Shell and BG agreed the $70 billion cash and share deal in April
and Australia's regulator began its review on June 11. The
regulator early in September deferred a decision for two weeks to
give itself additional time to consider the proposal.
The main area for overlap between the companies is in
Australia's eastern Queensland state, where BG runs the $20.4
billion Queensland Curtis LNG plant at Gladstone and inland
coal-seam gas fields and Shell owns substantial coal-seam gas
reserves through the Arrow Energy venture.
Brazil's competition authority approved the deal in July, the
first of five preconditions that Shell has said it needs to meet to
close the deal. The second came earlier in September when the
European Commission waved the deal through after a brief
investigation, leaving China's competition authority and
Australia's antitrust and foreign-investment regulators still to be
cleared.
U.S. antitrust authorities approved the deal in June.
Shareholders still need to vote on the deal and are expected to
receive formal documents late this year or early next year.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 17, 2015 01:05 ET (05:05 GMT)
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