The Australian Financial Review Banking Summit
“The fact that Australia has an informal regime, and it does not require mandatory notification, neither [has] suspensory effect such the transaction can’t proceed without the [ACCC] consideration taking place, results in the ACCC either not being notified at all or late,” she said.Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the current law enabled “strategic behaviour” by merger parties to avoid the ACCC’s scrutiny.
The lack of early access to mergers and acquisitions also extended to some deals involving two domestic parties, she said. Whereas Ms Cass-Gottlieb’s flagging of potential merger law reform appears focused on the ACCC gaining earlier access to deals, her predecessor was more strident in calling for extra powers to block mergers and acquisitions.