Competition Clearance in a Changing Regime: The Role of Economists
1 January 2005
By Greg Houston et al.
This article, published in the January issue of Company Director Journal, discusses recent changes to the merger clearance processes adopted by Australian competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and assess the likely impact on parties to merger proposals. The authors note that these developments have increased the formality and transparency of the ACCC's processes and suggest that, as with antitrust practices elsewhere around the world, economists are now set to play an increasing role in the identification and resolution of merger-related competition problems in Australia.
The authors emphasize the overall importance of identifying competition problems early in the merger process in order to prevent regulatory intervention and, in some cases, merger failure. They describe the various steps in the merger process where an economist plays a critical role, and outline some recent high-profile Australian transactions involving extensive input from economic experts.
This article is republished with permission from Company Director Journal, a publication of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
