A construction site for Westconnex at St Peters in Sydney's inner west.

A construction site for Westconnex at St Peters in Sydney's inner west.Credit:Steven Siewert

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's chief concern is that Transurban will be in pole position to gain ownership of future motorway extensions in Sydney if it gains control of WestConnex. Transurban already owns seven of the nine toll-road concessions in the city.

Despite the regulator's call for more time,the NSW government decided on Friday to stick to its original deadline for final bids due by Monday.

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Transurban appears to have taken sufficient comfort from the goverment's statement on Friday that it is committed to working closely with the bidders about the nature of their offers.

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The conditional bid by Transurban and partners AustralianSuper,Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Canada Pension Plan Investment Boardsaves the government from an awkward position in having only one bidder for the $16.8 billion toll road in Sydney.

Andrew Chambers,a funds manager at Martin Currie,said he was not surprised that Transurban had pushed ahead with a final bid given that it had spent about a year on the transaction. “You have to be in it to win it. It makes a lot of sense to submit a bid with conditions,rather than not do anything,” he said.

The government had wanted to complete the sale by next month,allowing it to use funds raised to pay for the largest stage of WestConnex – an underground link between the M4 and M4 motorways. However,the delay to the competition regulator releasing its findings on Transurban now means the sale is unlikely to be finished until September at the earliest.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday that completion of the sale would depend on a number of factors,including the ACCC's considerations.

“Whenever you run a major transaction there are so many checks and balances and the public would expect that to happen,” she said.

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