Competition & Consumer Protection

The ACCC has raised concerns that Singaporean agricultural giant Olam Agri Holding’s bid to acquire ASX-traded cotton ginner Namoi Cotton could reduce competition and stick cotton farmers with higher prices, one month after flagging similar concerns with Louis Dreyfus’ competing takeover proposal. 

Mexican fast food giant Zambrero has settled misleading and deceptive conduct claims brought against ex-CEO Stuart Cook, who has agreed to refrain from representing that he is “primarily responsible” for the chain’s success. 

The ACCC has flagged competition concerns about drug supplier Sigma Healthcare’s proposed $8.8 billion reverse merger with Chemist Warehouse, saying the tie-up could harm independent pharmacies and lessen competition in pharmacy retail.

The corporate regulator is on a winning streak in its greenwashing cases, with a judge rejecting Active Super’s attempt to qualify its “unequivocal” statements about limiting its investment in companies connected to gambling and coal mining.

Industrial technology company Delta Building Automation has been hit with a $1.5 million penalty after it was found liable for attempting to rig a bid for construction work on the National Gallery of Australia, a penalty five times the sum it asked the court to impose.

The judge overseeing a consumer class action against wealth manager Colonial First State Investments has given the green light to a $100 million settlement, but questioned a $23.1 million cut to funder Augusta under a “strange” funding agreement.

A judge has approved a $25 million settlement in a class action against a group of surgeons who worked for the Cosmetic Institute, including a $8.9 million payout for the lawyers that ran the seven-year-old case, saying the deduction from the settlement was reasonable given the “very significant discount” applied to the legal bill.

Approving a settlement between insurers and group members in an investor class action against lender Axsesstoday, a judge has aired his frustration with expansive confidentiality provisions and deeds that “misapprehend the nature of the court’s role” in dealing with group members’ claims. 

A Melbourne car dealer has largely lost a consumer law case against Honda Australia over its decision to abandon a dealership model, but is set to receive compensation for over 2,600 new vehicles it could have sold if Honda hadn’t ended its five-year contract early.

Two units of insurer IAG have been hit with a class action for allegedly misleading hundreds of thousands of home owners insurance customers about loyalty discounts.