The Commerce Commission has published a statement of preliminary issues relating to an application by Juice Technologies Pty Limited seeking clearance to acquire APT Business Solutions Limited, trading as APT Childcare. Juice Technologies operates in New Zealand through its wholly owned subsidiary, Infocare Systems Limited.

The statement outlines the key competition issues that the Commission considers important in deciding whether or not to grant clearance to the proposed acquisition.

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 Infocare/APT in the subject line. Any submissions should be received by close of business on Wednesday 29 January 2020.

The Statement of Preliminary Issues and a public version of the application can be found on the Commission’s 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.