The proposed acquisition of Veolia ES Singapore by competitor SembWaste has been given the green light by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS).

The two firms, which both supply waste collection services, would continue to face sufficient competition from other suppliers both here and overseas as a merged entity, CCCS noted yesterday.

It said in a statement that SembWaste had requested an assessment last month on whether the proposed acquisition would infringe competition law.

About 70 key stakeholders, including competitors and customers, were contacted during a public consultation exercise.

The National Environment Agency (NEA), which regulates waste collection services here, also provided input.

CCCS looked at two markets where the firms overlap in services: public waste and general waste collection.

It found that NEA is the sole customer in the market for public waste collection services, so it may have some bargaining power to constrain any increase in pricing power by the merged entity.

Barriers to entry and expansion are not high and a number of credible competitors remain, CCCS said.

The combined share of the two firms in the market for general waste collection services does not meet the criteria to raise competition concerns, it found.

It added that the incremental market share arising from the proposed transaction is low. "Customers are also able to switch suppliers in this market as there are a large number of alternative suppliers for customers to choose from."