AUSTRALIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Mark Grime and George Lukic, Thomsons
that formal statutory timetables do not tell the whole story. In all four jurisdictions, the practical timetable depends heavily on preparation time, information quality and the regulator’s appetite for market testing. The ACCC’s Acquisitions Portal and public register make front-end completeness especially important. In short, Australia’s new regime is neither an outlier nor a replica of overseas systems. For cross-border transactions, those differences matter not only for fil - ing analysis, but also for signing strategy, document preparation, public communications and the alloca - tion of regulatory risk. The practical implications are clear. First, Australian analysis now needs to begin alongside EU and US analysis, not after it. Secondly, serial acquisition records and portfolio mapping are becoming globally relevant, because several regula - tors are paying closer attention to acquisition patterns over time. Australia’s new merger control regime has heightened scrutiny of private equity and venture cap - ital transactions, particularly where serial acquisitions or minority shareholdings may raise competition con - cerns. Thirdly, public disclosure settings differ across jurisdictions, so communications strategy must be co- ordinated carefully. Fourthly, transaction documents need enough flexibility to deal with divergent review paths, including the possibility that one regulator clears quickly while another requires a longer or more intensive process. For global dealmakers, the key takeaway is that Australia should now be treated as a core workstream in cross-border merger planning, with its own timing, evidence and execution demands. Early trends show a surge in filings In the first quarter of 2026, the ACCC received 50 merger notifications and 108 waiver applications. This volume exceeded expectations, particularly for waiver applications, which averaged 38 per month, more than four times the ACCC’s pre-regime estimate. Most notifications (91%) were resolved within 20 busi - ness days, with Phase 1 approvals averaging 18–19 business days and waivers averaging 11–12 business days. Only two notifications progressed to Phase 2 review (Ampol/EG and Coles/Kalgoorlie) during this period. A further four matters (MicroStar Logistics/ Konvoy, Insurance Australia Group/RAC, Peter War - ren/Wakeling Automotive and Trescal/TR Calibration) progressed to Phase 2 before 30 June 2026. Ampol/
EG was cleared, subject to remedies, on 2 June 2026, Peter Warren/Wakeling Automotive was withdrawn by the parties on 15 June 2026.After close to seven months from the notification date, the ACCC opposed Coles’ proposed acquisition of a supermarket site in Kalgoorlie on 1 July 2026. This decision has since been appealed to the Australian Competition Tribunal, the first to occur under the new regime. The scale of early filing activity appears to reflect sev - eral overlapping drivers. First, parties have respond - ed conservatively to a new mandatory regime with uncertain boundaries. Where threshold application, the three-year look-back, or the degree of Australian nexus is not straightforward, many parties appear to be filing defensively rather than relying on self-assess - ment. Secondly, waiver applications have become an attractive risk-management tool for transactions that are likely to be benign but still raise enough uncertain - ty to make a no-file position uncomfortable. The fee differential and shorter average review period make the waiver pathway commercially appealing for low- risk transactions, particularly where parties want a for - mal outcome without incurring the cost and delay of a full notification. Thirdly, advisers appear to be encour - aging early engagement while market practice is still forming, especially for PE sponsors, serial acquirers and foreign buyers who are less willing to test the edges of a new civil penalty regime. Although the early clearance statistics are encourag - ing, they do not necessarily mean the system is light- touch. A high volume of short-form matters still require triage, information review, market testing in appropri - ate cases, and internal allocation of staff across noti - fications, waivers and more complex reviews. ACCC commentary to date has been broadly positive about the regime’s early operation, but the data also sug - gests that procedural filtering is doing substantial work. The waiver process, in particular, functions as a gatekeeping mechanism that allows the ACCC to separate clearly low-risk matters from transactions that warrant more extensive scrutiny. That may pre - serve resources for more complex cases, but it also shifts a meaningful evidentiary burden onto parties at the front end.
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