In January Metcash issued the ACCC with a notice to produce any documents it had created since July [when Metcash announced it had agreed to buy Franklins] referring to ''the identity of a potential third party acquirer of the Franklins assets''. Mr Gleeson's submission said even if the ACCC thought it unlikely that Woolworths would acquire the whole Franklins business, the notes showed ''in unambiguous terms its interest in ultimately acquiring 22 stores'' of the 80 owned by Franklins. This was ''evidence of the contest between Metcash and the major supermarket chains for stores and scale'', the submission said.