After the acquisition was agreed by the parties involved, the Competition Authority was notified. Following this, notification of the proposed transaction was sent to me, as Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, in accordance with Section 23(1)(a) of the Competition Act 2002 on the 20th March 2012 as the Competition Authority considered it to be a media merger within the meaning of Section 23(10) of that Act.
I understand this merger notification (M/12/002) was placed on the Competition Authority’s website at the time. The Competition Authority determined that the acquisition should not be prevented from proceeding as, in its opinion, it would not result in a substantial lessening of competition in markets for goods or services in the State.