Regulator

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has set a hurdle on the News Corp (ASX:NWS)-backed Foxtel takeover bid on Austar United Communications (ASX:AUN). The regulator said that Foxtel's proposed $2.5 billion bid would create a near-monopoly and delayed its decision until September.

In an attempt to compete with Qantas Airways, Air New Zealand (AIZ) and Virgin Blue (VBA) Virgin Blue are looking forward to form a codeshare alliance which will boost up their presence across the Tasman. The proposal is currently waiting for the approval from the regulator.

The biggest consumer of iron ore China may initiate an investigation and challenge the $US116 billion worth of Pilbara merger of Rio Tinto (RIO) and BHP Billiton (BHP) based on the advice from Allan Fels (an ex-Australian competition tsar) that it does have the right to challenge the merger as the country believes that the proposed merger may hurt the competition and can increase th

ASIC is cracking down on brokers - with the vision of having them disclose any connections - or fees that they receive from companies they review in their research notes. Given the recent events and news from Citigroup and the Westpoint collapse, ASIC has called for submissions to a discussion paper detailing case studies of examples where there has been conflicts of interest. In the discussion paper, ASIC presents how retail and wholesale financial advisers and fund managers in their research reports currently manage their conflicts of interest.