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New timeline announced for both proposed acquisitions of Asciano Limited

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has set a new indicative decision date of 24 March 2016 for its consideration of the acquisitions of Asciano Limited.

For the Qube consortium acquisition, the previous indicative decision date of 18 February 2016 was set on the assumption that the transaction structure would be finalised earlier in the ACCC's review. However the transaction structure was not finalised until 28 January 2016.

According to ACCC Chairman Rod Sims, the ACC would require further time to consider issues raised by market participants about the undertakings that have been offered by Brookfield and to consider further revisions of those undertakings offered last week by Brookfield.

"The ACCC requires time to consult on Qube's transaction structure, given we have only had details of the structure for a very short period," Sims said.

"We also need to consider whether revised undertakings offered by Qube can be consulted on, and if so, time for that consultation to take place."

The indicative decision dates for one or both matters may change again. Although the decision dates are currently aligned the ACCC may finalise its consideration of one proposed acquisition prior to the other.

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