The waning popularity of Australia’s merger authorisation process
It's a love story, but not a pretty one. Here's why Australian lawyers are more cautious than ever about merger authorisations.
Perhaps it was idealistic, doe-eyed, even, for Australian lawyers to expect the 2017 merger authorisation process would fast-track deal reviews with statutory timeframes in place that don’t apply under the country’s public informal review system.
So it was that Simon Muys — a partner at law firm Gilbert & Tobin’s competition and regulatory group — was led to quote Taylor Swift’s Dear John at the top of his recent Law Council of Australia paper:
Well, maybe it’s me, and my blind optimism to blame
Or maybe it’s you and your sick need to give love and then take it away - Taylor Swift - Dear John.
We’ve seen links between Taylor Swift’s sell-out Eras tour and the economy, but Taylor Swift and merger clearance?
