Charlotte Kininmonth shares news of the Federal Government’s exposure draft legislation on the merger reform overhaul – all 170 pages of it (including explanatory materials).
Last week, the Government released exposure draft legislation for its proposed merger clearance regime, which is due to commence on 1 January 2026. The exposure draft comes three months after the Government officially announced its intention to overhaul Australia’s merger clearance regime — replacing the existing informal merger notification and formal merger authorisation processes with a new mandatory and suspensory regime.
The Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2024: Acquisitions sets out the legal framework for the regime, including the types of transactions excluded from the regime, the timeframes for review, and appeal rights. Together with the explanatory materials, the exposure draft legislation comes in at a cool 170 pages and is not the easiest bedtime reading.
Don’t have time to sift through 170 pages of legislation and explanatory materials? Not to worry! We’ve done the work for you. In our alert, we pull out the 6 key takeaways from the exposure draft legislation (including some surprises!).
A gentle warning, however: if you’re looking for notification thresholds, you’ll be disappointed – these haven’t been set and won’t be released until later this year following further consultation. Watch this space!