The Commerce Commission has published a statement of preliminary issues relating to an application from CSR Building Products (NZ) Limited and Brickworks Building Products (NZ) Pty Limited seeking clearance to merge their brick businesses in New Zealand.

The statement of preliminary issues outlines the key competition issues that the Commission currently considers will be important in deciding whether or not to grant clearance. The Commission’s statement of preliminary issues and the public version of CSR and Brickwork’s application are available in the Clearances Register.

The Commission invites submission from parties who consider they have relevant information for the Commission’s consideration.

Submissions can be sent to registrar@comcom.govt.nz with the reference CSR/Brickworks in the subject line of the email or to PO Box 2351, Wellington 6140 by 4pm Wednesday 19 September 2012.

Background

Assessing an application for a merger or acquisition

When considering a proposed merger, the Commission must decide whether the competition that is lost in a market when two businesses merge is substantial. We will give clearance to a proposed merger only if we are satisfied that the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.