Control of Australia’s monopoly e-conveyancing operator PEXA will pass to Canadian technology company Dye & Durham, following regulatory approval last week for D&D’s takeover of PEXA’s biggest shareholder Link Group, but not before D&D divests its existing Australian businesses.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it would not oppose D&D’s A$2.5 billion takeover of Link, after accepting a court-enforceable undertaking from D&D that it will divest its existing local businesses.

The acquisition of Link will give D&D a 42.8 per cent shareholding in PEXA Group. The ACCC’s concern is that the integration of D&D’s information broking services, conveyancing and legal practice management software with PEXA’s electronic lodgement business would raise competition issues.

“The alignment raised concerns that D&D and PEXA would have allowed for mutual preferential dealing that would have hindered competition or raised barriers to entry in one or more markets in the conveyancing workflow,” the ACCC said in a statement.

“We were conscious of PEXA’s position as the only fully operational electronic lodgement network and the sensitive period of transition underway as interoperability between electronic lodgement network operators emerges.

“Therefore, the ACCC has focussed on ensuring that the post-acquisition market structure does not hinder competition over the longer term.”

Under the terms of the undertaking, D&D must sell its businesses to a purchaser approved by the ACCC.

D&D has been operating in Australia since 2021, when it acquired SAI Global’s property division and GlobalX Information.