Competition & Consumer Protection

Drug supplier Sigma Healthcare has offered an undertaking in a bid to allay the competition regulator’s concerns about its proposed merger with Chemist Warehouse. 

Olam Agri Holdings has offered to divest its Queensland cotton gin and a 20 per cent holding in a leading Australian cotton classing company to win approval for its takeover of Namoi Cotton.

In a first, EnergyAustralia has been ordered to pay $14 million for breaching the Electricity Retail Code by misleading customers about prices.

The ACCC will not oppose Lendlease’s plan to sell a portfolio of residential projects to Stockland for $1.3 billion after accepting Stockland’s plan to divest a project in Illawarra. 

Building insulation supplier CSR Bradford will provide discovery to Consolidated Energy after the independent distributor foreshadowed action alleging misuse of market power. 

Major supermarkets Coles and Woolworths have been taken to court by the consumer regulator, accused of inflating prices for short periods in order to advertise more attractive discounts.

Captain Cook College and its COO will attempt to reach an agreement on penalty with the ACCC after the High Court knocked back their appeal of a systemic unconscionable conduct finding.

A second law firm has filed a class action against Harvey Norman alleging it sold extended warranties to customers that had “no real value”.

Harvey Norman has been hit with a class action on behalf of customers who paid hundreds of millions of dollars for allegedly “worthless” warranties that offered zero added protection.

Mastercard is fighting an evidentiary win for the competition watchdog in a case alleging the payments giant misused its market power in deals with major retailers.