ACCC not to oppose Canberra concrete acquisition

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will not oppose the proposed acquisition by Readymix Holdings Pty Ltd of Canberra's Elvin concrete and quarrying business, ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.

"The ACCC's investigation found that the proposed acquisition is unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in contravention of Section 50 of the Trade Practices Act", Mr Samuel said.

"The ACCC made wide-ranging market inquiries on this matter, consulting market participants including customers, competitors and interested parties".

Should the acquisition proceed, the ACCC considered the three remaining suppliers of concrete in the Canberra region would constrain any potential exercise of market power by the merger entity.  They are the vertically integrated Boral and Hanson and the non-integrated Monaro Mix.

Readymix is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rinker, an international heavy building materials group, and operates Australia wide.  Rinker also owns a 25 per cent share of Cement Australia, a major producer of cement in Australia.

The Elvin family business consists of mini-mix concrete and pumping, a sand processing facility and a concrete supplies outlet.

Section 50 of the Act prohibits mergers and acquisitions that will have the effect, or are likely to have the effect, of substantially lessening competition in a market.