Kinetic NZ Holdings Limited Seeks Clearance To Acquire NZ Bus

The Commerce Commission has received a clearance application from Kinetic NZ Holdings Limited (Kinetic) to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of NZB Holdco Limited (NZ Bus) and its subsidiaries.

Kinetic operates bus and coach services in New Zealand and Australia, including Go Bus urban bus and school bus services across New Zealand and SkyBus airport transfer services at Auckland Airport.

NZ Bus provides urban bus and coach services in Auckland, Wellington and Tauranga and is majority owned by investment funds managed by Next Capital Pty Limited, an Australian private equity firm.

Kinetic says that it and NZ Bus currently only overlap in the supply of urban bus services, with the only geographic overlap being in the Auckland region.

A public version of the clearance application will be available shortly on the Commission’s case register.

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.

Further information explaining how the Commission assesses a merger application is available on our website.

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