Another day, another bomb from the ACCC. And this one could set a new bar for merger clearances in Australia.
She said if Transurban bought EastLink, it would entrench its position in Victoria and prevent other companies from entering the market for future tollroad concessions. Specifically, she wanted to strengthen wording around what constitutes a substantial lessening of competition, which is one of the two things the ACCC considers in its merger review.She wanted to include words in the legislation to make it clear that the test included “entrenching, materially increasing or materially extending a position of substantial market power”.