Commerce Commission the biggest hurdle for OMV's Shell buy, says Woodward Partners

Commerce Commission the biggest hurdle for OMV's Shell buy, says Woodward Partners
Pattrick Smellie
By Pattrick Smellie March 19 (BusinessDesk) - Austrian oil and gas producer OMV may have to sell down its stakes in the Maui and Pohokura fields to clear competition law hurdles to its $578 million purchase of Shell New Zealand's remaining assets, says petroleum sector analyst John Kidd from Woodward Partners.  In a note to clients, Kidd says OMV may choose to sell down from the "very high equity positions" it will hold in the two fields both to "dilute portfolio risk" and as "mitigation to Commerce Act concerns".  OMV will own 93.75 p...