Australia’s new merger control regime is protecting competition in key markets while allowing low-risk acquisitions to proceed efficiently, which is necessary to help secure Australia’s economic prosperity in a period of high uncertainty.
ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb noted in a speech today at the Australian Competition Summit in Sydney that right-sized regulation is essential to ensuring that competition delivers better outcomes for consumers and businesses.
Ms Cass-Gottlieb said that Australia’s new merger control regime, which commenced at the start of this year and was one of the most significant reforms to competition law in decades, is striking the right balance between minimising regulatory burden for low-risk acquisitions and a structured and transparent process for potentially anti-competitive deals.
“Competition is essential to our economic prosperity, and effective merger control is needed to protect competition,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
“At a time when we need Australians to maintain confidence that our systems and markets are working for them, it is so important that we carefully scrutinise acquisitions that have the potential to impact consumers.”
“Acquirers can attempt to reduce the competition they face through market consolidation. Consumers can be left paying more for a drink at a pub, a trip to the vet, or to get their car serviced, purely because a competing business was eliminated,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
Patterns of consolidation
In the first nine months of the new merger control regime, the ACCC has seen high rates of acquisitions across critical industries such as medical, dental and veterinary services.
It is also seeing many acquisitions in the aged care, hospitality and supermarket sectors.
A significant number of acquisitions have involved Australian and international private equity firms or investment funds. This includes acquisitions where private equity firms appear to be “rolling-up” several smaller businesses in an industry and consolidating them into a larger entity.
“It is in Australia’s national interest to have visibility of and be able to assess serial acquisitions, particularly in industries that supply important services for consumers,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
“In the United Kingdom, major consolidation of veterinary clinics happened in a relatively short space of time. From 2016 to 2023, when much of the consolidation occurred, the average price of vet services increased by 63 per cent.”
The ACCC has also seen several acquisitions in the supermarkets sector due to targeted notification requirements that apply specifically to Coles and Woolworths. Many have involved leases for supermarket sites, which can impact the ability of rivals to compete and raise barriers to entry.
Changes under the new regime
Under Australia’s previous informal merger review process, anti-competitive acquisitions could occur without the ACCC’s knowledge. Many potentially anti-competitive deals were not notified at all, and of those that were, 93 per cent were assessed confidentially.
“Our new merger laws are providing the nation with far better visibility over acquisitions and patterns of consolidation that may affect competition,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
“We are seeing deals that we previously wouldn’t have known about. It is not uncommon for parties to tell us that there are no competition issues, but when we talk to their customers or suppliers, it quickly becomes clear there are competition issues to investigate.”
“The relatively small number of deals that we have either not approved or imposed conditions on are significant as they include supermarkets, petrol stations and insurance – markets that draw high levels of consumer spending,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
“We are not seeking to stifle pro-competitive mergers and investment, nor get in the way of the many mergers that don’t raise competition concerns. But we need sufficient visibility to identify and prevent the small number of acquisitions that may weaken competition through changes to market structures.”
“Our mergers role complements our enforcement work to actively investigate anticompetitive conduct. It is by robustly addressing both market structure and market conduct, that we can achieve better outcomes for the Australian community,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
Background
Australia’s mandatory merger control regime officially commenced on 1 January 2026, replacing the former voluntary, informal clearance system.
Between 1 January and 30 September 2026, the ACCC has:
- Opposed three acquisitions
- Imposed conditions on the approval of five acquisitions
Between 1 January and 30 September 2026, the ACCC received 486 notification waiver applications:
- 410 were approved
- 21 were not approved
- 7 were ceased.
Between 1 July 2025 (when it became possible to voluntarily notify) and 30 September 2026, the ACCC received 271 notifications:
- 227 were approved in Phase 1
- 4 were approved in Phase 1 with conditions
- 1 was approved in Phase 2 with conditions
- 3 were not approved in Phase 2.
Total numbers of notifications and notification waiver applications received is different to total determinations because some matters may still be under consideration or ceased at the end of the relevant period.
The ACCC publishes details of each notification and key decisions on its Acquisitions Register.
More information about the merger control regime is available on the ACCC’s website: Mergers and acquisitions.
