AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION TRIBUNAL
NOTICE
Application by Murray Goulburn Co-Operative Co Limited for Merger Authorisation – ACT 4 of 2013
1 On 29 November 2013, Murray Goulburn Co-Operative Co Limited applied to the Tribunal under s 95AV of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (the CC Act) for authorisation of its proposed acquisition of Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Company Holdings Limited.
2 The Tribunal, in accordance with s 95AX has given to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) a copy of the application and the accompanying documentation).
3 The application was accompanied by extensive documentation. A significant portion of the material in the application is the subject of a request under s 95AZA that certain information be excluded from the Tribunal’s merger authorisation register and from the website of the ACCC. The Tribunal is in the process of addressing that request. It anticipates doing so in stages, so that the application may be put on its Register and the ACCC website promptly. It anticipates that will occur late today or early tomorrow.
4 In the meantime, the Tribunal notifies interested parties that:
(1) it will conduct a first case management conference for the application at the Federal Court, Commonwealth Law Courts Building, 305 William Street, Melbourne at 12noon on 9 December 2013;
(2) any interested person intending to appear at that conference should give notice in writing to the Tribunal of that intention by 4:00 pm on 5 December 2013;
(3) the Tribunal has fixed 4:00 pm on 18 December 2013 as the time by which any submissions from interested persons should be received (that time will also appear on the ACCC website as required by s 95AY(b) of the CC Act.
5 The Tribunal has provisionally reserved 10 February 2014 to commence any public hearing of the application, given the relevant period prescribed by s 95AZI.
Dated: 2 December 2013
Julian Hetyey
Deputy Registrar
Australian Competition Tribunal