The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will not oppose Cleanaway Waste Management’s acquisition of Contract Resources Group Pty Ltd.
Cleanaway proposes to acquire 100 per cent of the shares in Contract Resources.
Contract Resources is a specialist provider of industrial services for complex and high value assets in the energy and oil and gas sectors.
The business’ majority shareholders are two private equity firms, SCF Partners Inc and Viburnum Funds Pty Ltd.
The acquisition is expected to complete on 31 July 2025.
“Contract Resources is a highly strategic acquisition that when combined with our Industrial Services business, creates a leading provider of integrated, specialised technical services to customers in the oil and gas, resources and industrial sectors,” said Cleanaway CEO and Managing Director, Mark Schubert.
“I’m excited about the growth Contract Resources will bring to Cleanaway through the acceleration of our strategy to capture the decommissioning, decontamination, and remediation (DD&R) opportunity.
“With its market-leading reputation, technical capabilities, and Tier 1 oil and gas customer base, Contract Resources enhances our value proposition and positions us to secure a greater share of DD&R projects and the complex, hazardous waste streams they generate.”
The ACCC’s review considered the likely effect of the proposed acquisition on competition for the provision of industrial services.
The review found Contract Resources primarily provides specialist industrial services, such as catalyst handling, which Cleanaway does not supply.
For other types of industrial services that both Cleanaway and Contract Resources supply, the ACCC’s review found the merged entity would continue to face competition from alternative suppliers and, in some cases, customers would be able to effectively sponsor the entry of a new supplier.
“Cleanaway and Contract Resources compete mainly for customers in the oil and gas sector,” said ACCC Commissioner, Dr Philip Williams.
“These customers are generally large, well-resourced organisations that could sponsor new entry or sponsor the expansion of existing rival suppliers.
“We have seen oil and gas companies sponsor new entry before.”
The ACCC’s review also considered the likely effect of the acquisition on competition in the supply of waste management services.
It focused on whether the merged entity would be able to profitably leverage Contract Resources’ strong position in the supply of specialist industrial services into Cleanaway’s waste management offering – such as by requiring customers to acquire its waste management services as a condition of supplying specialist industrial services.
The ACCC found that this is unlikely to be a profitable strategy because customers have other options to source these specialist industrial services.
“Overall, we did not find that the proposed acquisition is likely to substantially lessen competition in the supply of industrial services or waste management services,” Williams said.
This development follows Cleanaway’s finalised acquisition of Citywide Service Solutions (Citywide Waste).
In other news, Brisbane-based transport company, Richers Transport, is celebrating 90 years of operation.
