Treasury has released a consultation paper on the thresholds which will determine which mergers or acquisitions of a target business or asset that have a material connection to Australia must be notified to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) before completion. Background.

The Government’s merger reform proposal will create a legal obligation for businesses to notify acquisitions captured by notification thresholds, enforced by substantial penalties.

In the new system, mergers may proceed within 30 working days after notification unless the merger raises competition concerns.

Treasury has developed the following monetary and market concentration thresholds.

It is proposed that the monetary thresholds will be triggered if:

• The acquirer group’s and target’s combined Australian turnover is at least $200m, and each party has at least $40m in Australian turnover (or the global transaction value exceeds $200m); or
• The acquirer group’s Australian turnover is at least $500m, and either each merger party has $10m in Australian turnover or the global transaction value exceeds $50m.

The proposed market share thresholds would be:

• If the parties have at least a 25% combined share, then each party must have at least $20m in Australian turnover; or
• If the parties have at least a 50% combined share, then each party must have at least $10m in Australian turnover.

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