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GlobalX acquisition not opposed
The acquisition of GlobalX by another information broker, Dye & Durham, will not be opposed by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.
Naomi Neilson
Legal practice management and information broker GlobalX can now be acquired by Dye & Durham after the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) found the transaction would not substantially lessen competition in the broker space.
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The ACCC also found that the acquisition would be unlikely to result in substantial lessening of competition in the markets for conveyancing software and manual property settlement services, which both provide. It would also not affect supply of information services to competing legal practice management software providers.
ACCC commissioner Stephen Ridgeway commented: “We examined the proposed acquisition carefully as it would combine two of the five information brokers in Australia. We found that the three major information brokers would continue to provide competition to Dye & Durham post-acquisition.”
The ACCC added that while two major brokers would combine, very few concerns were raised in market feedback. Instead, information obtained by the commission indicated that the other information brokers or industry participants could expand and improve their offering to better suit and attract more customers.
Many customers also gave feedback that switching information brokers was not difficult and many already use multiple information brokers at once.
“In addition, we consider regulatory bodies such as state land titles offices can influence how information is distributed, which makes it more difficult for information brokers to exercise market power. Regulatory bodies could also encourage and facilitate increase in the number of licensed information brokers,” Mr Ridgeway said.
In February this year, GlobalX entered into the definitive agreement to be acquired by the Canadian-based Dye & Durham for approximately $166 million.
At the time, InfoTrack chief executive John Ahern released a “critical” statement questioning the state of the nation’s legal tech industry. He criticised Australian technology companies for preferring to “sell-out rather than export”, which he said was a “fundamental problem for our country as it erodes long-term export potential”.
GlobalX CEO Peter Maloney told Lawyers Weekly that instead “we should be listening to and celebrating the success” of Australian legal tech stories, their ability to export their technology into new markets and to attract global players.
