Brookfield Asset Management’s acquisition of a minority stake in Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) was cleared by the competition regulator on Tuesday, after a short merger inquiry.
The Canada-based alternative investment manager was part of a consortium with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board that agreed to purchase SSE’s 33.3% stake in the gas distribution network for £1.23bn in August last year.
On 11 January, the Competition and Markets Authority said it was considering whether the transaction would result in a “substantial lessening of competition” under the Enterprise Act.
It said at the time that it had “sufficient information” for it to investigate whether the purchase needed to be referred to a phase two investigation.
“The CMA has cleared the anticipated acquisition by Brookfield Asset Management of a minority shareholding in Scotia Gas Networks,” the regulator said on Tuesday.
No further information was immediately available, but the CMA said the full text of the decision would be available shortly.
