The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will not oppose MYOB's proposed acquisition of Solution 6's Accounting and Compliance Business, ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
MYOB and Solution 6 are Australian based major suppliers of software to the accounting profession and other business.
"The ACCC carefully considered the competitive impact of the proposed acquisition in the market for business management application software", Mr Samuel said.
"The ACCC has conducted extensive market inquiries, speaking to many accounting practices and other customers, accounting bodies and competitors of the merging parties and noted some concern regarding quality and service levels.
"The ACCC found that although the merged entity would enjoy a significant market share, the new business would come under increasing competitive pressure from other expanding software suppliers. Additionally, the ACCC considered that the presence of other strong competitors including among others, APS, Quiken, and Handisoft and the real threat of new entrants to the market, is likely to operate as an effective competitive constraint on the merged entity, thereby constraining attempts to raise prices to customers.
"The ACCC was also aware that the market is dynamic and that there have been a number of competitors entering in the past five years.
"On this basis, the ACCC concluded that the proposed acquisition is unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition".