Toll takes step in right direction, more needed: ACCC

<p>Toll Holdings will need to offer more concessions to get Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approval for its attempted takeover of Patrick Corporation, ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel has suggested.</p> <p>Mr Samuel, speaking on the <em>Business Sunday</em> program on the weekend (November 27), said he had yet to study Toll’s response to the ACCC statement of issues in detail.</p> <p>"I’d have to say that I think it [Toll’s response&#93 is a step in the right direction but it is probably not sufficient just on the basis of what I’ve had reported to me over the weekend," he told the program.</p> <p>The ACCC’s "preliminary view" on the competition concerns of the takeover related to auto logistics, Bass Strait Shipping and the rail freight market between the eastern states and Perth, Mr Samuel said.</p> <p>The coast-to-coast rail issue, which concerned the joint Patrick and Toll-owned rail venture Pacific National, was the "most complex and difficult" of the three, he said.</p> <p>The Pacific National concern was not purely an issue over ownership, Mr Samuel said.</p> <p>"I think focussing on the shareholding of Pacific National won’t take us that far, I think what we have to do is focus on the business of Pacific National and dealing with things such as terminal access in Sydney and Melbourne, train paths between Melbourne and Perth and rollingstock, including locomotives," he said.</p> <p>"We will have to deal with the business itself to ensure that we have the possibility of an effective competitive force operating in that rail freight market across Australia." </p> <p>Mr Samuels said the Toll bid could get through if the company was prepared to "address the issues that we are currently discussing with them".</p> <br />