The ACCC has outlined significant preliminary competition concerns with Dye & Durham’s (D&D) proposed acquisition of Link Administration Holdings (ASX:LNK) in a statement of issues published today.
These concerns relate to the conveyancing sector which is in a transitional period as it moves to electronic conveyancing and digitalisation.
The ACCC will not oppose Opus Group Pty Ltd’s (Opus) proposed acquisition of Ovato Limited’s (Ovato) (ASX: OVT) book printing business.
As part of the proposed transaction, separately, Ovato would issue a convertible note to Opus, which Opus can convert into approximately 15% of Ovato’s issued share capital.
Opus’ book printing division, McPherson’s, and Ovato’s book printing business unit, Ovato Book Printing, overlap in the printing of mono (black and white) books sold in Australia.
The ACCC has outlined preliminary competition concerns with Aurizon’s (ASX: AZJ) proposed acquisition of One Rail in a statement of issues published today.
The ACCC is seeking public comment on whether these concerns would be addressed by Aurizon’s proposed divestment of One Rail’s east coast business.
Aurizon and One Rail both supply rail haulage services for coal in New South Wales and Queensland. There are three main suppliers of coal haulage in these states - Pacific National, Aurizon and One Rail.
The ACCC will not oppose the proposed acquisition of Synergy Packaging Pty Ltd by Pact Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:PGH).
Both Pact and Synergy manufacture and supply non-beverage rigid PET plastic containers.
“Our investigation concluded that Pact is not a close competitor of Synergy and the acquisition was not likely to substantially lessen competition,” ACCC Commissioner Stephen Ridgeway said.
“Synergy offers short product runs to small and medium business customers, and Pact primarily services larger customers with high volume orders.”
The ACCC will not oppose the proposed acquisition of Waterlogic Group Holdings Limited (Waterlogic) by the Culligan Group (Culligan), after accepting a court-enforceable undertaking from Culligan’s parent company, Osmosis Buyer Limited, to divest the Billi business.
Waterlogic and Culligan are the leading providers of domestic and commercial instant filtered water taps used to dispense boiling and chilled water. In Australia the parties are best known by the Zip (Culligan) and Billi (Waterlogic) brands.
Competition authorities around the world are handling a surge in more complex, global mergers, demonstrating the need for continued strong collaboration between agencies across different jurisdictions, ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb has told an international audience.
The ACCC has outlined preliminary competition concerns with THL’s proposed acquisition of Apollo (ASX: ATL) in a statement of issues published today.
THL and Apollo are tourism companies, headquartered in New Zealand and Australia, respectively. Both businesses are involved in the rental, sale and manufacture of recreational vehicles (RVs), such as motorhomes and campervans.
The ACCC has outlined preliminary competition concerns with the proposed acquisition of the Port of Geelong by the Spirit Super Palisade Consortium in a statement of issues published today.
The Spirit Super Palisade Consortium includes a range of superannuation and infrastructure funds including the Diversified Infrastructure Fund managed by Palisade Investment Partners. Investors managed by Palisade also wholly own and operate the Port of Portland, a bulk commodity port in south-west Victoria.
The ACCC has discontinued its review of the proposed merger between global container handling equipment companies Cargotec and Konecranes.
Cargotec and Konecranes abandoned the transaction on 29 March 2022 after the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the merger, and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) informed the parties that it intended to sue.
The ACCC will not oppose the proposed acquisition of Australian Pacific Health Supplies TopCo1 Pty Limited and its subsidiaries (Pacific Health Group) by EBOS Group Limited (ASX: EBO), through its subsidiary EBOS Medical Devices Australia Pty Limited.
EBOS and Pacific Health Group distribute a range of medical devices to private and public hospitals and to clinicians. Pacific Health Group also manufactures and distributes allografts through its Australian Biotechnologies business. In general, the majority of the parties’ offerings are complementary and not in direct competition.