Treasury

• This is because a market economy, based on companies and individuals pursuing their own interests, only works if those companies and individuals face sufficient competition.
• If Treasury and the Reserve Bank are now doing analysis, this indicates they clearly understand Australia’s competition problem.
• The increased competition that will result will drive better performance and so productivity.

What’s in the reforms?

• And the ACCC should decide if a merger will substantially lessen competition.
• These are economic judgements that are poorly suited to first instance decision making by a court.
• Third, and also hugely important, the reforms mean a merger cannot proceed if it creates, strengthens or entrenches substantial market power.
• They have wanted proof it will be used in ways that reflect inadequate competition, even though the merger has not happened yet.

• It recognises that substantial market power should be prevented, and certainly not strengthened or entrenched.
• The latest merger that triggered the investigation can be stopped, as presumably will be others that may have followed.

What’s not yet in the reforms?

• The treasurer has, however, indicated the thresholds will be set to capture the number of merger assessments the ACCC does now.
• The ACCC’s approach to this was to be able to “call in” problematic mergers below the thresholds, but the treasurer has rejected this idea.
• This suggests the thresholds should be set at a lower level than seems to be envisaged.
• They reflect a healthy approach to increased competition in our economy which will benefit consumers, most businesses, and the wider economy.

Professor Rod Sims is an expert adviser to the Commonwealth Treasury’s Competition Task Force. He was Chair of the ACCC from 2011-2022.

• Through this buyback program, ABB repurchased a total of 21,387,687 shares – equivalent to 1.09 percent of its issued share capital at launch of the buyback program – for a total amount of approximately $0.83 billion over the past 12 months.
• ABB’s Board of Directors intends to use the capital band approved at the 2023 Annual General Meeting to cancel all shares repurchased under the 2023–2024 share buyback program.
• Consistent with ABB’s capital allocation principles, the Board of Directors today approved a new share buyback program for capital reduction purposes of up to $1 billion.
• ABB intends to also use the capital band for the cancellation of the shares repurchased under this new program.

• On April 1, 2024, ABB will launch its previously announced new share buyback program of up to $1 billion.
• Since July 2020, ABB has repurchased about 308 million shares for capital reduction purposes for a total amount of approximately $9.4 billion.
• This includes 21,387,687 shares that were repurchased under the 2023–2024 share buyback program and are expected to be cancelled in Q2 2024.
• The new share buyback program will be managed by a bank mandated by ABB that, based on trading parameters received from ABB, will make its trading decisions concerning the timing of share repurchases independently of ABB.

• The Company announces that on 27 March 2024 it purchased a total of 100,000 of its ordinary shares of EUR 0.001 each (the "ordinary shares") on Euronext Dublin and the London Stock Exchange through the Company's broker Numis Securities Ltd, as detailed below.
• The repurchased shares will be cancelled.
• Following settlement and cancellation of the above purchases, the Company's total number of ordinary shares in issue shall be 644,797,549 shares, each carrying the right to one vote.
• The
  Company holds nil ordinary shares in treasury.