(Adds details about bidding, company comments)
MELBOURNE/SYDNEY, June 1 (Reuters) - Australia's competition watchdog said it will review a bid by a consortium led by IFM Investors for the Port of Melbourne, Australia's largest container port, as clouds begin to form over a privatisation designed to raise $4 billion or more.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Wednesday it was seeking views on whether the deal proposed by the IFM group would lessen competition between any of the ports where it is already a stakeholder, including Port Botany and the Port of Brisbane. The ACCC it aimed to reach a decision by July 28.
The state government of Victoria aims to raise at least A$5.3 billion ($3.9 billion) in the Port of Melbourne sale before the end of 2016, as part of a broader Australian government privatisation programme to help cut debt and upgrade the country's infrastructure. Three consortia initially submitted bids. the ACCC review comes after the field of potential buyers narrowed to two. A bidding group led by Hastings Funds Management pulled out of the sale process last week citing concerns around regulations governing the sale, people familiar with the matter said. They declined to be identified because the matter was confidential.
Hastings declined to comment on the matter.
The IFM consortium includes APG Asset Management and Macquarie Group 's MQG.AX Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA). APG and MIRA have a range of indirect interests of less than 5 percent in port-related businesses, ACCC said in its statement.
IFM declined to comment.
The third bidding group includes Queensland investment fund QIC, along with Borealis Infrastructure. Domestic media reports say a consortium of Chinese investors led by a Zhejiang port group is also considering a bid.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Flagstaff Partners are acting as advisors to the Victorian government on the sale.
($1 = 1.3748 Australian dollars)