ABC Learning Centres Limited has provided a court-enforceable undertaking to divest five child care centres in regional areas in order to obtain Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approval for its acquisition of Kids Campus Limited.
The acquisition of long day child care centres can affect competition on a local basis, so the focus of the ACCC's investigations was on those local areas where child care centres were being acquired.
"The ACCC considers that this undertaking is necessary to ensure that prices for long day child care services in these areas do not rise as a result of the merger and that, in particular, parents in regional areas continue to have a choice of long day child care services for their children", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
"The ACCC has conducted extensive market inquiries to examine the impact of the proposed transaction on competition in local markets, and has determined that, subject to the divestitures required by the undertaking, the acquisition will not lead to a substantial lessening of competition in any relevant market".
ABC currently owns over 755 child care centres in Australia in all states and territories. Kids Campus Limited owns or manages around 91 child care centres across Australia.
ABC's undertaking will appear on the ACCC's public register and a Public Competition Assessment will be published on the ACCC website in due course.