Merger appeal at risk of delay

A judge has to set the ground rules for media companies Fairfax Media and NZME’s attempt to overturn the Commerce Commission rejection of their merger proposal.

The appeal against the commission’s decision is due to be heard in October but the commission’s lawyer, Jim Farmer, QC, has told a judge that the media companies’ plans for the appeal potentially put that date at risk.

For the companies, David Goddard, QC, told Justice Robert Dobson at the High Court in Wellington that the companies might trim the points they want to argue rather than delay the October appeal hearing.

Yesterday the judge said he would give his decision within days on topics including confidentiality, with a major issue being disclosure of views on the future shape and performance of the companies if the merger did not proceed.

Details that had not even been shared between the two companies would be made public if the commission’s confidentiality proposal was accepted, Goddard said. The companies would do their best to claim confidentiality only when it was needed but, taken out of context, even a summary could be ‘‘extremely damaging’’, he said.

A ‘‘high level’’ description of suggested future prospects for the companies without a merger should be able to be published in the interests of open justice, another of the commission’s lawyers, James Every-Palmer, QC, said.

It was in the hands of the companies to provide the context to their suggested prospects, he said.

The commission wants confidentiality sorted as soon as possible because 1491 separate documents might need to be edited, Every-Palmer said.

The companies want to update the information the commission considered to come to its decision, but the commission said it could not respond to that material in time. –Stuff