News: ORG Australia's ACCC Authorises Brookfield/ Midocean's Acquisition Of Origin

Oct 10 (Reuters) - BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD BAM.TO :

• AUTHORISES BROOKFIELD/ MIDOCEAN'S ACQUISITION OF ORIGIN
• ACCC HAS GRANTED AUTHORISATION WITH CONDITIONS FOR PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF ORIGIN ENERGY BY BROOKFIELD AND MIDOCEAN
• FOUND THAT PUBLIC BENEFITS AND PUBLIC DETRIMENTS IN ACQUISITION MATTER WERE FINELY BALANCED
• CONSIDERED UNDERTAKINGS OFFERED BY BROOKFIELD, AUSNET AND MIDOCEAN IN THIS WEIGHING PROCESS
• CONSIDERS ACQUISITION WILL RESULT IN ACCELERATED ROLL-OUT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION
• CONSIDERS ACQUISITION WILL LEAD TO MORE RAPID REDUCTION IN AUSTRALIA'S GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
• CONCLUDED THAT AN ACCELERATED BUILD-OUT OF ORIGIN’S RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION WOULD BE A MATERIAL BENEFIT TO THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC
• CONSIDERS PROPOSED ACQUISITION IS LIKELY TO INCREASE THE SPEED OF THE RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION ROLL-OUT
• NOT SATISFIED THAT THE PROPOSED ACQUISITION WOULD NOT BE LIKELY TO SUBSTANTIALLY LESSEN COMPETITION
• SATISFIED THAT PROPOSED ACQUISITION IS LIKELY TO RESULT IN PUBLIC BENEFITS THAT WOULD OUTWEIGH LIKELY PUBLIC DETRIMENTS