Australia's merger regime exposes consolidation, but raises questions of over-capture
By Sean Maguire ( November 12, 2026, 07:14 GMT | Insight) -- Australia's new mandatory merger regime is exposing patterns of private equity consolidation across essential services, but greater visibility of acquisitions does not necessarily mean greater competition risks. Ahead of a review of notification thresholds, competition lawyers instead warn that the regime may already be capturing too many transactions, particularly global deals involving businesses with limited Australian operations, imposing costs and delays disproportionate to the potential competition risks.Australia's new mandatory merger regime is exposing patterns of private equity consolidation across essential services, but the bigger concern may be less about acquisitions escaping regulatory scrutiny than about too many transactions being caught by the new rules....
Prepare for tomorrow’s regulatory change, today
MLex identifies risk to business wherever it emerges, with specialist reporters across the globe providing exclusive news and deep-dive analysis on the proposals, probes, enforcement actions and rulings that matter to your organization and clients, now and in the longer term.
Know what others in the room don’t, with features including:
- Daily newsletters for Antitrust, M&A, Trade, Data Privacy & Security, Technology, AI and more
- Custom alerts on specific filters including geographies, industries, topics and companies to suit your practice needs
- Predictive analysis from expert journalists across North America, the UK and Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific
- Curated case files bringing together news, analysis and source documents in a single timeline
Experience MLex today with a 14-day free trial.