Meat companies apply for Weddel scheme authorisation
Published12 Oct 1994
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A consortium of 15 meat companies has applied to the Commerce Commission for authorisation of arrangements relating to their bid to buy Weddel's meat processing plants.
Commission Chairman Alan Bollard said the consortium's application was received yesterday afternoon and the Commission will make documents available as soon as possible after confidential information has been deleted.
Dr Bollard said the proposal centres on the plants being temporarily closed for a year and the consortium having the option to close them permanently, in an attempt to reduce killing capacity in the industry.
The Commerce Act prohibits competitors agreeing to work together in a way that reduces competition between them. It also allows for authorisation of potentially anti-competitive business practices if the public benefit is greater than the detriment to competition.
The Act sets no deadline for the Commission to consider authorisation of a potentially anti-competitive practice. However, it does have a 60 working day deadline for considering authorisation of a merger.
The Commission has provisionally set a 60 working day timetable to consider this authorisation. This will give the wide range of interested parties time to make submissions. They will have the opportunity to comment on the application and also on the draft determination the Commission plans to release by November 16. Allowing for the statutory break over Christmas and New Year, the 60 days end on January 26 next year.
In the last two weeks the Commission has received fifty-six letters and phone calls, including many form letters, from people who said they may want to comment on the application.
Public notices asking for submissions will be published as soon as possible. Interested parties will have until November 2 to make submissions. During that time Commission staff will study the proposal, interview industry participants and carry out necessary research.
Steps and the provisional timetable for considering the application are:
By October 14
Identify interested parties, send them necessary documents, publish public notices
Deadline for interested parties to call a conference. Date and venue of conference will be announced if one is to be held.
Deadline for submissions on draft determination, submissions are circulated to interested parties (confidential material may be deleted)
December 7
Deadline for experts employed by interested parties to make submissions, submissions are circulated to interested parties (confidential material may be deleted)
January 26
Final determination issued
The companies making up the consortium are: AFFCO, Richmond, Lowe Walker, Hill Country Beef, Progressive Meats, Cavalier Meats, Waitotara Meats, Taylor Preston, King Country Lamb, Walford Meats, Waikato Beef Packers, Te Kuiti Meats, Frasertown Meat Company, Benmore Products, Coromandel.
A copy of the public notice is attached to this release.
Media contact:Vince Cholewa, Communications Officer
