The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has defended the amount of time it took to make a decision on the proposed NAB and Axa Asia Pacific Holdings takeover deal.

Chairman Graeme Samuel told a conference in Sydney last week that decisions are reached in a shorter time than in other jurisdictions.

“The ACCC’s timelines for merger reviews are best practice, and are considerably shorter than many other jurisdictions – in particular the EU, the US and the UK,” he said.

“In NAB/Axa the review was undertaken and decision reached within the ACCC’s usual tight timeframes.”

Mr Samuel says the public review started on January 19 and a statement of issues was released three weeks later on February 10.

“Following further inquiries after the release of the statement of issues, a final decision was made on April 19,” he said.

“Subsequent to the decision, NAB approached the ACCC and indicated that it wished to consider the possibility of offering undertakings to alleviate the ACCC’s concerns.”

Mr Samuel says that following the commission’s decision in April to oppose the deal, NAB didn’t come back with an undertaking that could go to public consultation until August 9.

After receiving that undertaking, a decision on the undertakings was made in less than five weeks, including a two to three-week public consultation period.

Another issue that can extend the decision-making process is the length of statements involved.

In the cases of NAB and Axa, the document was 24 pages long and provided a high level of detail and analysis.

“The statement of issues can provide the merger parties and other interested parties with the preliminary ACCC views and it can also provide guidance on what further information would assist the ACCC in finalising its views,” he said.
 
“It is an opportunity for merger parties and industry participants to respond to the issues identified by the ACCC to date, and identify any further areas that should be explored.”

Mr Samuel says the statement should not, however, be seen as anticipating the ACCC’s decisions on a deal.

“It is designed to provide preliminary guidance on the ACCC’s concerns, focus market attention and provoke comment and information flow on areas of interest.

“So the statement of issues should not be regarded as indicative of that final decision.”