Macquarie Group’s bid for Esanda given green light - ACCC
(21 September 2015 – Australia) Macquarie Group's proposed acquisition of ANZ Banking Group's Esanda dealer finance unit has been given the green light from the competition regulator.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said in a statement it would not oppose the acquisition finding that it was not likely to "substantially lessen" competition in the market.
"The ACCC had some concerns that the proposed acquisition may lead to increased bailment interest rates [or lower commissions to dealers on POS finance], particularly for dealerships that do not have access to an aligned or in-house finance provider," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.
"However, the ACCC concluded that on balance the combination of existing and potential competitive constraints would be sufficient to prevent a substantial lessening of competition as a result of the possible acquisition."
Bailment finance is acquired by dealerships to finance the cars held in their showrooms before they are sold. Dealerships also acquire POS finance facilities to allow them to offer finance to customers purchasing vehicles, and earn commissions on arranged customer finance contracts.
The Esanda dealer finance unit may fetch as much as $1.5 billion. The sale, which is roughly half of total assets sitting under the broader Esanda arm, represents $8.3 billion in assets.
ANZ has pushed back the final bid date for the Esanda unit until next week to accommodate bidder requirements. Non-bank lender Pepper Group has entered the race and is seeking equity partners for a bidding consortium, to compete against Macquarie and China's HNA Group.
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