Deals

QLD Rail

Advising on and drafting access undertakings for approval by the Queensland Competition Authority in relation to declared below rail services for which Queensland Rail is the Rail Infrastructure Manager, including drafting of submissions in response to the QCA. Also advising on application of and obligations under Queensland Rail’s existing approved access undertaking, and on the extent and nature of the Queensland Competition Authority’s rights and obligations under the QCA Act.

Essential Services Commission

Advised on implementation of economic regulation associated with the privatisation of the Port of Melbourne.

Vodafone

Advised on all aspects of its engagement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on its re-declaration and access determination processes in relation to domestic transmission capacity and mobile terminating access.

REA Group

Advised REA in multiple pieces of Federal Court litigation commenced against Fairfax Media and its subsidiary Domain Group in relation to advertising and market conduct of regarding rival digital property listing platforms.

Air New Zealand

Acted on the defence of proceedings brought by the ACCC in the Federal Court of Australia alleging collusive behaviour in the fixing of surcharges and fees on the carriage of air cargo into Australia.

BP

Representing BP on the defence of an ACCC prosecution of five petrol retailers and a data intermediary in relation to the alleged anticompetitive effects of an industry price information exchange scheme. This litigation, which was the culmination of a three-year investigation, was an important test case regarding the application of Australian competition laws to price information sharing arrangements. The matter was settled without admissions or penalty shortly before trial.

CBS/Ten Network

Advised CBS in its bid to acquire the Ten Network out of administration, overcoming legal challenges by rivals, and advising on financing, restructuring and merger clearance.

BP

Advised BP on a range of mandates, including its proposed acquisition of Woolworths’ entire 527-site network of service stations and a network of development sites, as well as the establishment of a long-term convenience partnership and loyalty and rewards alliance. The ACCC Chairman described the deal as the most complex merger review of the year.

Wesfarmers

Acting for Wesfarmers in relation to the competition law issues arising from the proposed divestment of its K-Mart Tyre and Auto business.

Aurizon

Advising on and drafting access undertakings for approval by the Queensland Competition Authority in relation to declared below rail services in the central Queensland coal region, including drafting of submissions in response to the QCA. Also advised on application of existing access undertaking and on terms of agreements for the provision of access to below rail services.

SABMiller plc

Acting in respect of the ACCC clearance of the proposed US$104 billion acquisition of SABMiller plc by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV – at the time, the third largest takeover in history. ACCC clearance was successfully obtained.

Staples Inc

Acting on the ACCC clearance of Staples Inc.’s US$6.3 billion global acquisition of Office Depot, Inc (trading in Australia as OfficeMax). Involved a detailed five-month review in which the ACCC defined a market in which the merged firm’s market share exceeded 80%. Unconditional, phase one clearance for this highly contentious transaction was obtained. The transaction did not proceed after Staples failed in a bid to overturn an adverse US Federal Trade Commission decision.

Paradise Company

Acted for Paradise Company Limited in the acquisition of Laga Industries Limited, a manufacturer of some of Papua New Guinea’s most popular snacks, ice cream, beverages and cooking oil. Paradise, which is majority-owned by Nambawan Super, one of the largest superannuation funds in Papua New Guinea, acquired Laga Industries from Steamships Trading Company Limited after a competitive bidding process.

Kina Securities

Advising ASX/POMSoX-listed Kina Securities Limited in the acquisition of ANZ’s retail and commercial / SME banking business in Papua New Guinea. This was one of the largest M&A transactions in PNG in the last 12 months and is a transformative transaction for Kina, acquiring services approximately 85,000 retail and 6,000 Commercial and SME customers.