Statement of Preliminary Issues released for Fletcher

The Commerce Commission has published a Statement of Preliminary Issues relating to an application by Fletcher Building Limited to acquire all the assets and employees of Waikato Aggregates Limited, including the right to extract and process sand from the Tamahere quarry. Waikato Aggregates will maintain ownership of the underlying land of the quarry.

The statement outlines the main issues that the Commission considers important in deciding whether or not to grant clearance to the proposed merger.

The Commission invites interested parties to provide comments on the likely competitive effects of the proposed acquisition. Submissions can be sent by email to registrar@comcom.govt.nz with the reference “Fletcher/WAL” in the subject line. Any submissions should be received by close of business on Tuesday 18 December 2018.

The Commission is currently scheduled to make a decision on the application by 18 February 2019. However, this date may be extended as the investigation progresses.

The Statement of Preliminary Issues and a public version of the application can be found on the case register.

Background

We will give clearance to a proposed merger if we are satisfied that the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.

Further information explaining how the Commission assesses a merger application is available on our website.

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