The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has raised preliminary competition concerns about the proposed merger of insurance giants Aon and Willis Towers Watson to create the world’s largest insurance provider, following investigations in the US, Europe, Canada and New Zealand.
US consumer goods giant Kimberly-Clark has agreed to pay $200,000 for misleading ‘Made in Australia’ representations made on its ‘flushable’ wipes.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has raised preliminary competition concerns about accounting software provider MYOB’s proposal to swallow up cloud practice management software provider GreatSoft, saying the South Africa-based company has the potential to become a strong competitor to MYOB as more accounting firms migrate to the cloud.
Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhlmsen Ocean has been fined $24 million for conspiring to fix the rates charged for shipping vehicles to Australia, bringing the total fines won by the ACCC over the shipping cartel to $83.5 million.
Herbert Smith Freehills has snagged one of the country’s leading competition lawyers who advised on two of the biggest and most contentious mergers in recent years from rival Clayton Utz to join its market-leading competition and trade practices group.
Google is looming large over the advertising technology world, the ACCC says in a new report highlighting growing concerns the global tech giant’s “unrivalled” ability to preference its own technology could affect competition.
While a Federal Court judge recently promised to advance a long-running criminal cartel case against several investment banks and individuals over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, a separate judge will soon hear a privilege dispute over documents from whistleblower JPMorgan that promises to further delay the case.
The chair of the ACCC says that while it has made concessions in response to complaints from Google and Facebook about its proposed media bargaining code, it won’t budge on the final offer arbitration model which would be used to resolve disputes with media companies under the code.
Tech giants Google and Facebook have come under fire in a Senate inquiry for their “threats” to block news in Australia if a draft media bargaining code proposed by the ACCC is passed without any amendments.
Fonterra has hit back at claims in a class action that the dairy giant misled farmers and breached its supply agreements when it slashed milk prices and sought a clawback in 2016, saying it warned farmers of the “extreme” volatility in the market.