Firm acquired Waikato wood shavings market's two largest suppliers without seeking clearance
The New Zealand High Court ordered Alderson Logistics Limited and Supa Shavings (2022) Limited to pay a $420,000 penalty for acquisitions that substantially lessened competition in the Waikato wood shavings market.
In Commerce Commission v Alderson Logistics Ltd [2026] NZHC 492, delivered on 6 March 2026, Justice Gardiner declared that both companies contravened section 47(1) of the Commerce Act 1986 by acquiring the assets of ABS Carriers Limited and Supa Shavings Limited.
Prior to the May 2022 acquisitions, ABS Carriers and Supa Shavings held a combined market share of at least 70 to 80 percent in the bulk wood shavings market for animal bedding in the Waikato region. The two companies competed directly against each other as the market's largest suppliers. The acquisitions eliminated that competition entirely.
Neither Alderson Logistics nor Supa Shavings (2022) sought clearance or authorisation under the Act before completing the transactions. Following the acquisitions, Supa Shavings (2022) materially raised its prices for bulk wood shavings from around August 2022.
The defendants submitted that they had engaged a lawyer, an accountant and obtained bank funding for the transactions, but no adviser flagged competition law concerns. Justice Gardiner agreed with the Commerce Commission that the absence of legal advice identifying the issue did not constitute an independent mitigating factor.
The defendants recognised in advance that the acquisitions would deliver a high market share and regarded this as a material benefit. Directors and shareholders of the Alderson group, and other senior employees, drove the transactions. The Court accepted the conduct fell into a serious category.
Justice Gardiner noted this case represented only the fourth penalty ever imposed under section 83 of the Commerce Act. The Court adopted a starting point of $500,000 to $700,000, representing five to seven percent of the $10m statutory maximum, and applied a 30 percent discount for the defendants' lack of prior contraventions, cooperation with the Commission, early admission of liability and genuine divestment efforts.
The defendants attempted to divest the Supa Shavings business over a 20-month process, but the sale proved unfeasible. The Commission released Alderson Logistics from its divestment undertaking on 5 November 2025.
The Court acknowledged the defendants had not achieved profitability in any year since the acquisitions and that new competitors entered the market from November 2024. Justice Gardiner emphasised that a penalty under section 83 should ensure "all business people, even of modest businesses, properly inform themselves about the merger control prohibitions in the Act."
In its news release, the Commerce Commission noted the case marked the first time it asked a business that admitted breaching section 47 to divest acquired assets.
"The Commerce Act is clear – in New Zealand, a person or business must not acquire assets of another business or shares if the effect, or likely effect, is a substantial lessening of competition in a market," said Commerce Commission chair Dr John Small.
"The companies were each other's closest competitors and, when those assets were acquired, that competition was eliminated," Dr Small said.
Dr Small noted the Commission did not receive notification about the acquisitions. He stressed that while New Zealand's clearance regime remains voluntary, the Commission can take action against mergers or acquisitions where parties did not seek clearance.
"While divestment was unsuccessful in this case, this shows the array of enforcement actions available to us," Dr Small said.
