Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approvals
31 May 2024
Alistair Jaque, Corporate Partner at Deutsch Miller, AGA's law firm in Sydney looks at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC's) updates to the Australian merger control regime.
In April 2023, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced proposed updates to the Australian merger control regime:
- The "voluntary" merger review regime will be changed to a "mandatory" and "suspensory" regime, with the effect that merger parties would be required to notify and obtain approval from the ACCC of mergers that meet certain thresholds prior to completing transactions.
- Reviews of the ACCC’s decisions by the Australian Competition Tribunal will be limited.
- The threshold for the test under section 50 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 will be lowered.
It has been reported that transactions involving companies with a turnover of AUD$400 million (USD$260 million) or a transaction value of more than AUD$35 million (USD$23 million) would trigger a mandatory ACCC merger filing under the proposed reforms.
At this stage, no rules have been legislated, but more details are expected later in 2024.
For more information contact Alistair Jaque
About Deutsch Miller:
As Alliott Global Alliances’s law firm member representative in New South Wales, Australia, the team at Deutsch Miller combines technical excellence, first class service and a practical, commercial approach to legal issues, earning them a reputation as the astute choice for international and domestic clients and their advisers when they face complex, critical commercial challenges and opportunities. Read more.