Zurich’s £8.2 billion ($15.5 billon) buyout of London-listed Beazley has been cleared by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission following an examination of potential market impacts.

The competition watchdog, which began its review last month, says global group Zurich and specialist insurer Beazley “are not close competitors” in the Australian market and have “different areas of relative strength and focus”.

“The ACCC has determined that the acquisition may be put into effect as it considers that the acquisition is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in any market,” the commission said yesterday.

The two insurers’ “market shares in Australia of the insurance products in which they overlap are estimated to be low, and the increases in share resulting from the acquisition are estimated to be low.

“[They] would likely continue to face competition by multiple alternative suppliers of specialty insurance products in Australia in all product segments in which they overlap.”

Beazley shareholders have voted in favour of the all-cash takeover, which is still awaiting regulatory clearance in other jurisdictions.

From the latest Insurance News magazine: Why Zurich's local GI chief is upbeat about growth opportunities in the Australian market