Preliminary Issues Statement released for Property Brokers

The Commerce Commission has published a statement of preliminary issues relating to an application from Property Brokers Limited to acquire the West Coast real estate business and property management business of Farmlands Real Estate Limited and Farmlands Real Estate Property Management Limited (together Farmlands Real Estate).

The statement outlines the key competition issues that the Commission considers important in deciding whether or not to grant clearance to the proposed acquisition.

The Commission invites interested parties to provide comments on the likely competitive effects of the proposed acquisition. Submissions can be sent by email to registrar@comcom.govt.nz with the reference Property Brokers/Farmlands in the subject line. Parties should provide a public version of their submission at the same time for publication on the Commission’s case register. Any submissions should be received by close of business on 12 December 2019.

The Commission is currently scheduled to make a decision on the application by 12 February 2020. However, this date may be extended as the investigation progresses.

The Statement of Preliminary Issues and a public version of the application can be found on the on the Commission’s case register.

Background
Property Brokers offers real estate services from offices throughout New Zealand. It provides residential, lifestyle, rural and commercial real estate, and property management services. On the West Coast of the South Island, Property Brokers operates from offices in Westport, Greymouth and Hokitika.

Farmlands Real Estate is a fully owned subsidiary of Farmlands Co-operative Society Limited. Farmlands Real Estate also offers residential, lifestyle, rural and commercial real estate, and property management services from offices throughout New Zealand. On the West Coast of the South Island, Farmlands Real Estate operates from offices in Westport and Hokitika.

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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