Competition and Consumer Act 2010

Subject to subsection (5), an acquisition by a person of shares in the capital of a body corporate is not required to be notified if:

immediately after the acquisition is put into effect, the person does not control (within the meaning of section 51ABSA) the body corporate; or

the person controlled (within the meaning of section 51ABSA) the body corporate immediately before the acquisition was put into effect.

This section and sections 51ABSA and 51ABSB apply in a similar way to acquisitions of units in unit trusts, or acquisitions of interests in managed investment schemes (see section 51ABC of this Act).

For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, disregard the effects of a scheme if it would be reasonable to conclude that the purpose of the person, or one of the persons, who enters into or carries out the scheme or any part of the scheme is to enable that subsection to apply to an acquisition.

See section 4F (references to purpose).

For the purposes of subsection (3), a scheme is:

any agreement, arrangement, understanding, promise or undertaking, whether express or implied; or

any scheme, plan, proposal, action, course of action or course of conduct, whether unilateral or otherwise; or

any combination of 2 or more things that are schemes because of paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection.

Despite subsection (1), an acquisition of shares in the capital of a body corporate is required to be notified if:

paragraph (1)(a) or (b) applies to the acquisition; and

the acquisition is in a class of acquisitions determined under subsection (6).

For the purposes of paragraph (5)(b), the Minister may, by legislative instrument, determine a class of acquisitions of shares in the capital of bodies corporate.

Without limiting subsection (6), the Minister may determine a class of acquisitions under that subsection wholly or partly by reference to:

the size of an interest in a body corporate; or

the nature of a person’s control of a body corporate.