New Zealand’s Commerce Commission published today a “statement of preliminary issues” related to Omnicom’s proposed acquisition of Interpublic. 

The country is just one of multiple jurisdictions that will investigate whether the proposed M&A deal would restrict competition in the advertising and/or media buying sectors within their respective territories.  

According to a prospectus filed by Omnicom other countries and jurisdictions it is applying for clearance to proceed with the deal include the U.S., the European Union, Australia, Canada, China, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, India, Japan, Mexico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, and the UK. 

Among the questions the NZ Commision (known as “ComCom”) will look into is whether “the loss of competition between the parties enable the merged entity to profitably raise prices or reduce quality or innovation by itself?” 

Also “Would the merged entity engage in any tying or bundling strategies to prevent or inhibit rivals from competing?” See the full preliminary issues statement here.  

Omnicom and Interpublic have responded that they do not believe a restriction of competition would occur in the market because of their combination, noting that competitors like WPP, Publicis, Havas as well as independent agencies aggressively compete in New Zealand.   

ComCom has invited “interested parties” to submit comments on the likely competitive impact of the merger. The deadline for doing so is April. 9. It hopes to make a decision on the deal by May 1, but may take more time if it needs to.  

“We will give clearance to a proposed merger if we are satisfied that the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market,” the Commission stated. 

Omnicom and IPG hope to complete the transaction in the second half of 2025.