ACCC

JPMorgan Australia chairman Rob Priestley told Citigroup and Deutsche Bank executives not to “panic” about picking up a shortfall in the sale of ANZ shares, a court has heard in the ACCC’s criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has given the green light to pork processor JBS Australia to proceed with its proposed $175 million acquisition of a Singapore-owned pig farm and abattoir business, despite competition concerns raised by pig farmers.

A senior ACCC officer tried to dissuade ASIC from investigating alleged insider trading by JPMorgan because of fears it would “upset” the competition regulator’s criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, a court has heard.

A senior ACCC officer was probed Tuesday on whether the competition regulator updated its guidelines for taking witness statements in July in response to criticism of investigators’ methods in the cartel probe over ANZ’s $2.5 billion share placement.

Specialist workplace relations consultancy Employsure has been ordered to pay a $1 million penalty over a series of misleading Google advertisements, a figure significantly lower than the $5 million sought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Apple and Google’s legal woes in Australia are set to worsen, with a leading class action firm preparing to file class actions against the Silicon Valley giants for alleged competition and consumer law violations.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has appointed an esteemed Herbert Smith Freehills competition partner who defeated some of the regulator’s most high-profile merger challenges to be a commissioner.

Money transfer business Vina Money Transfer and two of five individuals accused of fixing foreign exchange rates on millions of dollars transferred between Australia and Vietnam will plead guilty to criminal cartel charges, a court has heard.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has given the green light to the National Australia Bank’s proposed $1.2 billion acquisition of Citigroup’s Australian consumer business, finding the deal is not likely to substantially lessen competition.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says Meta’s proposed acquisition of customer relationship management start-up Kustomer is unlikely to have any substantial impact on competition.