The Commission has closed its investigation into the acquisition of Allied Domecq plc by Pernod Ricard S.A. and does not intend to take any further action. The Commission is of the view that the acquisition is unlikely to have resulted in a substantial lessening of competition in any market.

On 13 July 2005, the Commission gave clearance to Pernod Ricard to acquire Allied Domecq, subject to Pernod Ricard's voluntary undertaking to divest itself of the Lindauer, Aquila, Italiano, Chardon and Chasseur brands. The Commission subsequently became aware that Pernod Ricard may not divest itself of these brands so the Commission opened an investigation into the competitive implications of the acquisition without the divestment.

The decision to close the investigation is based on the information recently gathered by the Commission and is not a ruling of law. Only the Courts may ultimately determine whether conduct is in breach of the law, and the Act specifically provides for action by other persons.

Background

Under section 47 of the Commerce Act a person must not acquire assets of a business or shares if the acquisition would have, or would be likely to have, the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.

In Decision 553, the Commission cleared Pernod Ricard to acquire the entire share capital of Allied Domecq subject to divestment undertakings. The Commission did not require the divestment undertakings: rather, the undertakings were voluntarily offered by Pernod Ricard and subsequently formed part of the clearance application in accordance with section 69A(1) of the Act. Pernod Ricard would lose the benefit of this clearance decision if the divestment undertakings are not completed. A public version of this decision is available on the Commission's website www.comcom.govt.nz under the Clearances Register.