The merger law standoff that will dictate future dealmaking
The merger law debate has reached a critical stage as government considers recommendations from the Competition Taskforce, and with merger lawyers and the ACCC in stark opposition.
Australia's merger law debate has been a slow burn.
In 2021, then ACCC chair Rod Sims made a speech to the Law Council of Australia over the need for a legal overhaul that laid out his concerns over Australia's voluntary notification system.
Sims wanted Australia to adopt a mandatory review system and come into closer alignment with the United States, European Union and Canada.
At the time, his demands were met with opposition from lawyers who felt the competition regulator already had adequate merger control tools at its disposal and that the regulator was smarting from courtroom losses linked to a handful of mergers. In some respects, not much has changed.
Now, the ACCC is under the leadership of former competition lawyer Gina Cass-Gottlieb, who has taken up the regulator's call for legal change.
