COMPETITION – AUSTRALIA – REGULATION

Woolworths, BP brace for ACCC fuel stations decision

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 11-Jul-17

BP will have a similar number of petrol retailing sites as Caltex if a deal to acquire Woolworths’ petrol business is approved by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. The deal would also increase BP’s share of the wholesale fuel market to 30 per cent, compared with about 18 per cent at present. Grant Saligari of Credit Suisse says the ACCC may raise some issues regarding the proposed $A1.8bn deal, although they might not be of sufficient concern to completely veto the transaction.

CORPORATES
BP AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, SHELL COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, COLES EXPRESS, MILEMAKER PETROLEUM PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW

ACCC appeals Tabcorp-Tatts merger ruling

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 11-Jul-17

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission will challenge the Competition Tribunal’s decision to approve the $A11bn merger between Tabcorp and Tatts Group. The ACCC has argued in the Federal Court that the tribunal made three legal errors in approving the deal. Amongst other things, it claims that the tribunal only considered whether the merger would be detrimental if it resulted in a "substantial" lessening of competition. The ACCC is of the view that the tribunal should have considered whether there would be any lessening of competition.

CORPORATES
TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. COMPETITION TRIBUNAL, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, PACIFIC BRANDS LIMITED

ACCC looks at bids for shaky Ten

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 5-Jul-17

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has been approached to assess whether a joint bid for the Ten Network by Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon would be likely to substantially reduce competition. The ACCC will issue a statement of issues by 24 July on a potential bid for Ten by their investment vehicles, Illyria and Birketu. A formal bid for Ten by Murdoch and Gordon would be conditional on changes to cross-media ownership rules, given their other media interests.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, ILLYRIA PTY LTD, BIRKETU PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, CANWEST GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, PPB ADVISORY

Tribunal dismisses concerns in Tab deal

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 23-Jun-17

The Australian Competition Tribunal, which approved Tabcorp’s $A11 billion merger with Tatts Group on 20 June 2017, has published in full the reasons for its decision. The tribunal has rejected claims by Racing.com that it would be placed in crisis if conditions were not imposed on the merged entity when bidding for future broadcasting rights. The tribunal also did not believe the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s view that allowing the merger to proceed would reduce competitive bidding for the next wagering licence in Victoria.

CORPORATES
TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS, AUSTRALIA. COMPETITION TRIBUNAL, RACING.COM, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, RACING VICTORIA LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, ODYSSEY GAMING LIMITED

ACCC bypass comes up trumps for Tabcorp

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 21-Jun-17

The Australian Competition Tribunal has cleared the proposed $A11bn merger of gambling giants Tabcorp Holdings and Tatts Group. Tribunal president Justice John Middleton rejected the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s concerns about the impact on competition, arguing that the merger will result in significant benefits for the public. However, he has stipulated that Tabcorp must proceed with the sale of Odyssey Gaming Services. Tabcorp hopes to finalise the merger by September.

CORPORATES
TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS, AUSTRALIA. COMPETITION TRIBUNAL, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, CROWNBET PTY LTD, RACING.COM, RACING VICTORIA LIMITED, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, SUN BETS

ACCC concerned about oOh!media merger plan

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 5-May-17

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission is scheduled to make a final decision on the proposed merger between oOh!media and APN Outdoor on 6 July. However, the ACCC’s statement of issues indicates that the regulator has concerns that the $A1.6bn deal would reduce competition in the out-of-home advertising sector. ACCC chairman Rod Simms notes that the combined entity would control more than 50 per cent of this market.

CORPORATES
OOH!MEDIA LIMITED – ASX OML, APN OUTDOOR GROUP LIMITED – ASX APO, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, APN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED – ASX APN

Opponents line up to resist Tabcorp deal

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 37 : 24-Apr-17

Racing NSW CEO Peter V’Landys rejects suggestions that a merger between Tabcorp Holdings and Tatts Group would reduce competition for broadcasting rights for horse racing. Some submissions to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission have expressed concern that the merger would increase the market power of Tabcorp-owned Sky Racing at the expense of rivals such as Racing.com, which is a joint venture between Seven West Media and Racing Victoria.

CORPORATES
TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS, SKY RACING, RACING.COM, RACING NSW, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, RACING VICTORIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, CROWNBET PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, PACIFIC CONSORTIUM

ACCC caps pricing for NBN competitors

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 10-Jan-17

The competition regulator has released a draft decision on the prices that retail broadband ISPs can charge wholesale customer for using their networks. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has capped the aggregation charge at $A15.25 per megabit per second per month. ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the wholesale prices are likely to fall over time to reflect growth in traffic in superfast broadband.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, VOCUS COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX VOC, NBN CO LIMITED

Sims slams easy route to growth

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Original article by James Thomson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 9-Jan-17

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims argues that more local companies should be pursuing international growth rather than merely acquiring their domestic rivals. He adds that while many companies support the idea of becoming a "national champion", this has resulted in some companies dominating the domestic market rather than expanding globally. Sims has also raised the possibility of changing the criteria for approving mergers by requiring a company to prove why the deal should be allowed to proceed.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS, BP AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, SYDNEY AIRPORT – ASX SYD, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, VOCUS COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX VOC

ACCC expresses initial concerns about PMP and IPMG proposed merger

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Original article by
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission – Page: online : 22-Dec-16

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) is concerned that the proposed merger between PMP and IPMG may "substantially lessen" competition in the supply of heatset web offset printing. The ACCC expressed its concerns in a Statement of Issues, released on 22 December 2016. ACCC chairman Rod Sims notes that the merger would result in a reduction in the number of significant suppliers in the sector of catalogue and magazine printing from three to two. The final decision is expected to be made on 23 February 2017.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, PMP LIMITED – ASX PMP, THE INDEPENDENT PRINT MEDIA GROUP PTY LTD, IVE GROUP LIMITED – ASX IGL, THE FRANKLIN PRESS PTY LTD, AIW PRINTING PTY LTD