Darley Australia Pty Ltd - proposed acquisition of Woodlands Stud

Summary

On 16 April 2008, Darley Australia Pty Ltd advised the ACCC that it proposed to acquire Woodlands Stud from Inghams Enterprises Ltd.

Market definition

Without reaching a final view, the ACCC considered that the relevant market was likely to be the market for breeding thoroughbred horses in Australia.

Competition analysis

On 9 May 2008, the ACCC formed the view that the acquisition would be unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition. Factors informing this conclusion included:

- the merged entity's market share would only increase by a small amount in terms of total number of stallions and in terms of stallion service fee revenues in the market for breeding thoroughbred horses in Australia;

- there is a large degree of risk associated with breeding thoroughbred horses such that the likelihood of any one stud farm establishing, maintaining or exercising market power over a substantial period of time appears to be relatively low; and

- barriers to entry into the national market for breeding thoroughbred horses appear to be relatively low.