There is nothing like a 30-page statement of issues and three red lights from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to pour water over a dream deal, or at the very least indicate a big battle and plenty of horse-trading in the months ahead.

The dream deal is the tie-up between two of Australia’s three biggest pathology groups, Healius and Australian Clinical Labs, to create a player with at least 50 per cent market share in the country’s most populous states.