The Commerce Commission has published a statement of preliminary issues relating to an application from Wilson Parking New Zealand Limited (Wilson Parking) to acquire leases for ten car parks from Tournament Parking Limited (Tournament).

The statement of preliminary issues outlines the key competition issues that the Commission currently considers will be important in deciding whether or not to grant clearance.

The Commission invites submissions from parties who consider that they have information relevant to the Commission’s consideration of this matter.

Submissions can be sent to registrar@comcom.govt.nz  with the reference Wilson Parking/Tournament in the subject line of your email, or to PO Box 2351, Wellington 6140 by close of business Tuesday 8 September 2015.

The statement of preliminary issues and public version of the application can be found on the Clearances Register.

Background

Wilson Parking, a privately owned company, is New Zealand’s largest public parking provider, operating approximately 270 parking facilities nationwide. It is part of the wider Wilson Group, which operates parking sites throughout Australia and Asia.  

Tournament is a privately owned company that currently operates 13 car parks in Auckland and Wellington.  In 2013, it sold most of its other parking operations to Wilson Parking.

The Commission investigated whether the 2013 acquisition by Wilson Parking of Tournament’s other parking operations substantially lessened competition. We concluded that the evidence did not support a conclusion that the acquisition substantially lessened competition. This application relates to assets not included in the previous transaction.