On 23 October 2019 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that it would not oppose the proposed acquisition of the AB Oxford Cold Storage Company by Emergent Cold. The Parties overlap in the provision of cold storage services in the state of Victoria and, following the proposed acquisition, will account for 35-40% of third party cold storage capacity in Victoria. In its Statement of Issues the ACCC raised concerns that the proposed acquisition would reduce the number of large third party cold storage providers in Victoria from four to three and would remove Emergent Cold’s closest competitor. However, after considering further information the ACCC ultimately found that the Parties are likely to face close competition from a range of large and small alternative suppliers, as well as being constrained by the possibility of some larger customers self-supplying their cold storage requirements. The ACCC’s media release can be found here. RBB Economics was instructed by Clayton Utz, solicitors acting for Emergent Cold.
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