West Australian Newspaper Holdings Ltd (WAN) - proposed acquisition of Geraldton Newspapers Limited

Status: 
Completed
Reference number: 
21102
Date completed: 
11 May 2005

Summary

West Australian Newspaper Holdings Ltd acquisition of Geraldton Newspapers Limited

Market definition

The relevant markets were considered to be the Geraldton/mid-west WA regional markets for publishing and supply of newspapers; and for the supply of newspaper advertising services.

Competition analysis

The merger parties compete only to a limited extent for the supply of newspaper advertising services in the Geraldton/mid-west WA region, with only one overlapping advertiser.
Barriers to entry to the market appear to be relatively low for entry on a small scale. The merged entity will continue to face competition from an established local newspaper competitor in The Mid West Times. Several other newspapers have strong sales in the region, including The Australian and The Sunday Times (both owned by News Limited), and The Financial Review (Fairfax).
In these circumstances, the ACCC considered that the proposed acquisition was unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition.

Merger type

Horizontal

Initiation

Parties