Caltex AustraliaÕs purchase of 302 Mobil service stations has been stymied by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The ACCC has been reviewing the acquisition under its merger review guidelines and today announced it will oppose the acquisition. It also indicated it will issue a public competition assessment setting out the reasons.

“Caltex will consider its position on the basis of today’s announcement, the public competition assessment and further discussion it proposes having with the ACCC. Caltex will then determine what action it will take in response to the announcement,” said Caltex managing director & CEO Julian Segal.

“Regardless of the eventual outcome, Caltex will maintain its business strategy. As previously stated, we will focus on growing our existing business and pursuing adjacent step out and merger and acquisition opportunities. This will enable us to achieve performance in the top quartile of ASX 100 companies, based on total shareholder return.”