Merger approved

Press, 10 August 1985, Page 23

Merger approved

NZPA-AAP Melbourne The Coles-Myer merger has been approved by both the Trade Practices Commission (TPC) and the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). The Federal Government has said it will not raise any objections and the Myer family company, Barclay Investments, has jiven its conditional blessing. Retail analysts said the approvals cleared the last major stumbling block for the billion dollar deal detailed by the two retailers on Tuesday. However, they warned that the future did not look promising for many Myer executives, who had good

reason to be concerned about their future prospects. There was no way an organisation such as Coles would be prepared to continue to double up on top flight salaries for any length of time, the analysts said. It would only be a matter of time, perhaps a year, before the rationalisation began, they said. It would not be immediate because of the promises of continuity contained in the Coles offer documents, the analysts said. The only possible stumbling block for the merger now was the unlikely event of someone moving in and picking up a 10 per cent “blocking stake” in Myer, the analysts said.