Acquisition of Assets

The acquisition of assets of an Australian business valued at more than $100 million require approval under section 25 of the Act.

Offshore takeovers of a foreign company whose Australian subsidiaries or assets are valued at more than $200 million, and account for less than 50 per cent of the target company's global assets, also require approval.  Different thresholds apply to US investors (indexed annually) - $219 million for investments in prescribed sensitive sectors or by an entity controlled by a US government, or $953 million in any other case.

Proposals in Sensitive Sectors or those which raise specific national interest issues may be subject to more detailed examination.

Approvals of proposals may be made subject to the parties meeting certain conditions. In practice, such conditions relate most commonly to the time period for real estate development or to environmental requirements.

How to Apply

In most cases, the submission of a Section 25 Notice is required when making an application to acquire assets. For full details of how to apply for approval, please see the How To Apply section. In addition, please refer to the Notices section of the website for guidelines on when and which notice is applicable.