Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

FOREIGN ACQUISITIONS AND TAKEOVERS ACT 1975 - SECT 19

             (1)  In this section, foreign person means:

                     (a)  a foreign corporation in which a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation holds a controlling interest; or

                     (b)  a foreign corporation in which 2 or more persons, each of whom is either a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation, hold an aggregate controlling interest.

             (2)  Where the Treasurer is satisfied that:

                     (a)  a person proposes, or persons propose, to acquire assets of an Australian business carried on solely by a prescribed corporation or prescribed corporations;

                     (b)  the proposed acquisition or acquisitions would have the result that:

                              (i)  in the case of a business not controlled by foreign persons--the business would be controlled by foreign persons; or

                             (ii)  in the case of a business controlled by foreign persons--the business would continue to be controlled by foreign persons, but those persons would include a person who is not, or would not include a person who is, one of the foreign persons first referred to in this subparagraph; and

                     (c)  that result would be contrary to the national interest;

the Treasurer may make an order prohibiting the proposed acquisition or all or any of the proposed acquisitions, as the case may be.

             (3)  Where the Treasurer makes an order under subsection (2) prohibiting a proposed acquisition of assets of an Australian business, he or she may also make an order in relation to a specified foreign person, or in relation to a specified foreign person and specified associates, or the persons included in a specified class of associates, of that person, directing that that person shall not, or none of those persons shall, whether alone or together with any other or others of them, acquire any interests in assets of that business, or acquire any such interests except to a specified extent.

             (4)  Where a person has acquired assets of an Australian business carried on solely by a prescribed corporation or prescribed corporations, and the Treasurer is satisfied that:

                     (a)  the acquisition has had the result that:

                              (i)  in the case of a business that, before the acquisition, was not controlled by foreign persons--the business is controlled by foreign persons; or

                             (ii)  in the case of a business that, before the acquisition, was controlled by foreign persons--the business continues to be controlled by foreign persons, but those persons include a person who is not, or do not include a person who is, one of the foreign persons first referred to in this subparagraph; and

                     (b)  that result is contrary to the national interest;

the Treasurer may make an order directing the person who acquired the assets to dispose of those assets within a specified time to any person or persons approved in writing by the Treasurer.

             (5)  Before the expiration of the time specified in an order made under subsection (4) or of that time as extended under this subsection, the Treasurer may, by writing signed by him or her, extend or further extend that time or that time as so extended, and in that event the order has effect as if the time as so extended or further extended had been specified in the order.

             (6)  The Treasurer shall not refuse to approve a person for the purposes of subsection (4) unless he or she is satisfied that the person is a foreign person and that it would be contrary to the national interest for that person to acquire the assets concerned.

             (7)  For the purposes of this section:

                     (a)  an Australian business shall be taken to be controlled by foreign persons if, and only if, the Treasurer is satisfied that a foreign person or foreign persons, alone or together with an associate or associates of that foreign person or of any of those foreign persons, is or are in a position to determine the policy of the business; and

                     (b)  where an Australian business is so taken to be controlled by foreign persons by reason that a foreign person or foreign persons, together with an associate or associates, are in a position to determine the policy of the business, references to the foreign persons who control the business include references to that associate or those associates, whether or not that associate is, or those associates are, in fact foreign persons.