Commission accepts amendment to bid for Weddel plants
Published11 Nov 1994
The Commerce Commission has today accepted an amendment to the application by a consortium of 15 meat companies for approval to buy the Weddel meat processing plants.
Commission Deputy Chairman Warren Haddrell said at this stage the Commission's view is the amendment does not substantially change the application for authorisation of restrictive trade practices.
The application is for an arrangement to close the plants after the consortium has bought them. The amendment is to the date at which that arrangement would start, the arrangement itself has not been changed.
The new proposal is for the consortium to buy the plants with settlement on February 14 next year. Under the original proposal the plants would have been temporarily closed for a year, with the consortium buying them after that year.
Mr Haddrell said the Commission does not see the amendment as a substantial change because the permanent closure of the plants and the likely effects of that have always been the arrangement's focus and are what the Commission has been asked to authorise.
The Commission's provisional timetable has not changed. It plans to release a draft determination giving its preliminary view of the bid by Friday next week.
Interested parties will be able to make submissions on the draft determination, a conference of interested parties will be held if requested and the Commission expects to make a final determination by late January.
The Commerce Act prohibits potentially anti-competitive behaviour, called restrictive trade practices. That includes competitors agreeing to work together in a way that reduces competition between them. It also allows for authorisation of restrictive trade practices if the public benefit is greater than the detriment to competition.
Media contact:Vince Cholewa, Communications Officer
