ACCC to delay decision on $4.9b Suncorp-ANZ merger
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has delayed its decision on the $4.9 billion ANZ-Suncorp merger for a week and will now have its final say on August 4.
As revealed by The Australian Financial Review on Monday, the ACCC released letters between the regulator and ANZ outlining the extension – the second for the highly anticipated deal – after the bank responded to an expert report about the merger’s potential toll on competition later than expected.
Suncorp will have to wait another week to learn its fate. Peter Rae
Not only was the response late, it was well over the 50-page limit the ACCC had imposed.
“The ACCC has concerns about the limited time your client (ANZ) has given the ACCC to review and evaluate the substantial new material provided by ANZ before the July 28 2023 statutory deadline,” the letter from merger investigations boss Daniel McCracken-Hewson said.
“We request that you advise us… whether ANZ agrees to the proposed extension of the timeline to August 11, 2023.”
But ANZ’s lawyer, Ashurst partner Peter Armitage, said the bank was only willing to extend the deadline to August 4.
The new date represents the second extension to the investigation, which was first scheduled to be finalised last month. The deal for ANZ to acquire Suncorp’s banking arm was announced in July 2022, but the protracted regulatory delay has frustrated both sides of the $4.9 billion acquisition.
ANZ and Suncorp have won the support of the Queensland government, but the deal has come under constant criticism from regional rival Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, which argues the deal will hurt competition and the market would be better off if Suncorp’s bank became part of its operation.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
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