A battle with the competition regulator over the proposed ANZ, Suncorp tie-up has begun, with the first clash involving a group of rival lenders that want their submissions to the ACCC kept under lock and key.
The ACCC has delayed its decision on whether to greenlight Coles’ plans to acquire milk processing plants from Saputo, after expressing competition concerns about the $105 million deal.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has taken eHarmony Inc to court, alleging the dating site misled users about its advertised ‘free dating’ membership and that its automatic renewal was a “subscription trap”.
Telco Swift Networks has been hit with a $1.2 million penalty for bid rigging and price fixing in the tender process for supplying IT and communications equipment for three Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals mining projects in WA’s Pilbara region.
The consumer regulator has asked a judge to impose penalties of almost $10 million against Honda Australia for misleading the customers of two former authorised dealerships, a penalty up to 10 times what the car maker says it should pay.
Qantas has responded to ACCC proceedings alleging it sold thousands of tickets on cancelled flights, saying the period in which the alleged unlawful conduct occurred was one of “well-publicised upheaval” for airlines.
The ACCC will seek a record penalty of more than $250 million against Qantas for selling tickets on cancelled flights, saying companies were not “sufficiently” scared of the consequences of misleading consumers.
The ACCC has initiated court proceedings against Qantas for allegedly continuing to sell tickets on more than 8,000 flights that had been cancelled weeks earlier.
A judge has hit BlueScope Steel with a $57.5 million penalty for engaging in attempted cartel conduct and ordered a former executive to personally pay a $575,000 penalty.
ANZ has lodged an application asking the Australian Competition Tribunal to reverse the competition regulator’s rejection of its $4.9 billion tie-up with Queensland-based Suncorp.