The past five years have seen a significant increase in cross-border merger activity involving Australian companies, as merger restrictions under the Trade Practices Act and mature domestic markets lead companies to look to acquisitions offshore for growth.
However, the benefit of access to foreign capital markets and the importance of inclusion in foreign market indices mean that, in cross-border mergers, Australian companies are frequently targets rather than acquirers. Good examples are Pioneer, acquired by Hanson in 2001 and TNT, acquired by KPN in 1998.
