Just days after announcing plans to purchase a substantial stake in the Babcock & Brown Communities Group (BBCG), the Prime Retirement and Aged Care Property Trust may have encountered its first hurdle: the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The ACCC has notified Prime Trust that it will monitor the 40 per cent proportional scrip for BBCG, a listed entity of retirement and aged care facilities.

As previously reported by Money Management, Prime Trust has indicated that once it secures a holding in BBCG, it will then pursue a full merger by way of a scheme of arrangement.

If successful, the merger would create Australia’s largest senior living class owner and operator, with “consequential efficiencies and capital market advantages”, according to Prime Trust.

The ACCC has invited Prime Trust to make a submission regarding the likely competitive effects of the proposed acquisition, after which it will undertake a public informal review of the merger.