The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has announced it will not oppose a proposal by Macquarie Group to acquire the Esanda Dealer Finance business.This motor vehicle leasing business is currently owned and operated by the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group. Now that the proposal has been cleared by the ACCC, Macquarie is expected to pay A$1.5 billion in a deal flagged by ANZ's chief financial officer Shayne Elliott in May. When the ACCC's review of the Macquarie proposal started in July, rival bids from China's HNA Group and diversified lender Pepper Group were also rumoured to be in play. Elliott said he expected the sale to add 20 basis points to the group's common equity Tier 1 capital.The ACCC concluded that the acquisition "was not likely to substantially lessen competition in the market for the supply of bailment finance and point-of-sale finance facilities to motor vehicle dealerships."(Bailment finance is acquired by dealerships to finance the vehicles held in their showrooms before they are sold to customers. Dealerships also acquire POS finance facilities to enable them to offer finance to customers purchasing vehicles, and earn commissions on the customer finance contracts they arrange.)The merged entity will face competition from the Westpac-St George multibrand business, and the possibility of new entrants. There is also a continuing push by manufacturer-aligned financiers - including Toyota Finance, Nissan Finance, BMW Finance, VW Finance and Mercedes Finance - to remain competitive, and even to move into each other's territory.Although aligned financiers generally only offer wholesale finance to dealerships which sell vehicles of their manufacturer, the ACCC said it "understands that most dealerships in Australia sell multiple brands of vehicles."Vehicle manufacturers have also been known to seek competitive finance options for their dealers by running tenders and appointing 'white label' finance providers to their dealerships. They may also use these tender processes to introduce another financier into the market."Accordingly the proportion of dealerships without access to an aligned financier is small," the ACCC stated.