The Commerce Commission has received a clearance application from Infratil Limited seeking clearance to acquire up a to 50% interest in Vodafone New Zealand Limited. Brookfield Asset Management Inc will acquire the other 50% share of Vodafone.
Vodafone is a telecommunications company which offers fixed, mobile and content/TV services. Vodafone is owned by Vodafone BV, which is a Netherlands-incorporated company.
Infratil is an NZX listed infrastructure investment company. It mainly invests in energy, transport and infrastructure businesses in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. It owns approximately 51% of the shares of Trustpower Limited (Trustpower). Trustpower is a power company that also sells telecommunication services.
Brookfield Asset Management is a global infrastructure investment company.
In New Zealand, Infratil (through Trustpower) and Vodafone overlap in the supply of telecommunication services to residential and business customers.
A public version of the clearance application will be available on the Commission’s shortly.
Background
We will give clearance to a proposed merger if we are satisfied that the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.
