Australia watchdog raises concerns on bids for Glencore coal rail arm

MELBOURNE, Oct (Shenzhen: 000069.SZ - news) 6 (Reuters) - Australia's competition watchdog raised concerns about bids from the nation's two biggest coal haulers for Glencore Plc (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) 's coal rail business and said it would decide by December whether to allow them to go ahead.

Glencore has attracted several bids for its GRail business, the third-largest coal haulage business in Australia, which could fetch as much as A$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion), including from top coal hauler Aurizon Holdings, its arch rival Pacific National and U.S. firm Genesee & Wyoming Inc (NYSE: GWR - news) .

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the sale of GRail was a rare opportunity to introduce competition in the rail business.

"The Hunter Valley coal haulage market appears to have high barriers to entry, so we would expect the addition of a third competitor to have a significant effect upon the market," commission Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement. ($1 = 1.3141 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Sandra Maler)