👉 Background: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, or the ACCC, is the competition watchdog in Australia. They make sure that business competition is strong and trading is fair in Australia… ultimately to protect Australian consumers.

👉 What happened: Now, the ACCC’s chair wants a major overhaul of the current merger laws. Here’s how it currently works:

• The ACCC can block mergers if they are likely to result in a substantial loss of competition
• They need to apply to court to have the merger unwound
• Companies don’t need to advise the ACCC until after the deal is done

👉 What else: In the Chair's ideal world, all companies even wanting to merge would need approval from the ACCC. It’s all part of her plan to prevent companies from dominating markets and reducing competition.

What's the key learning?

💡During times of economic uncertainty, industries become ripe for consolidation - often consolidation that borders on anti-competitive.

💡 In economic downturns, banks and investors are often less willing to lend money or invest money in businesses. And this makes it harder for smaller companies to access the capital that they need to compete against bigger rivals.

💡In some cases, the companies fold but in other cases, these companies are absorbed by larger players. The ACCC has seen it in previous downturns.. And is now getting on the front foot to prevent anti-competitive behaviour.

‍