THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says October 5, 2017 is the provisional date for its decision on the Borg Group’s proposed acquisition of the particleboard manufacturing assets of Carter Holt Harvey Pinepanels Pty Ltd (CHH) in Oberon and Mount Gambier and assets associated with those plants.
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Submissions on the proposed acquisition closed on August 14, 2017.
The legal test which the ACCC applies in considering the proposed acquisition is in section 50 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Section 50 prohibits acquisitions that are likely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.
CHH Panels intends to retain its Tumut and Gympie facilities, and will continue to supply raw particleboard, value-added particleboard and MDF products. CHH Panels will also continue to manufacture particleboard flooring; however this will only be available for supply to the Laminex Group (Laminex) and Borg.
The ACCC is considering the impact of the proposed acquisition in the supply of raw particleboard. Borg currently on-supplies raw particleboard but does not manufacture raw particleboard itself.
Borg intends to commence manufacturing raw particleboard itself within two years at its own facility in Oberon, separately to the CHH Panels facility in Oberon.
In April 2017, Borg’s CEO Jim Snelson told the Oberon Business and Tourism Association that the new factory would be “a world class particleboard line”.
He said the new plant will employ over 100 workers during construction and “there will be opportunities for apprentices and others to gain invaluable experience” throughout the project’s building stages.