Philippine antitrust regulators raise M&A review trigger

MANILA, Philippines — Antitrust regulators said Monday they raised the thresholds for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that would require their approval to proceed.
 
From at least P5.6 billion, the threshold for the size of person was raised to P6 billion, while that for the size of the transaction was increased from P2.2 billion to P2.4 billion.
 
SoP refers to the value of assets or revenues of the ultimate parent entity of at least one of the parties, while SoT refers to the value of assets or revenues of the acquired entity.
 
The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) uses them to measure if an M&A poses risk to market competition, an environment that regulators believe benefits consumers through lower prices and better services.
 
The new guidelines will be implemented starting March 1.
 
“Adjustment of the thresholds ensures that potentially anti-competitive M&As are subject to compulsory notification and review, while those that are less likely to pose competition concerns are excluded,” PCC Chairperson Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement.
 
Under PCC rules, companies undertaking M&A transactions are required to inform the agency within 30 days from the signing of the agreements.
 
If the size of the transaction falls within specified thresholds, the transaction will be reviewed for potential disruptions to competition.
 
This is the third time the PCC tweaked the thresholds for review since the agency was established in 2015.
 
The adjustments are made every year “to ensure that the thresholds maintain their real value over time and relative to the size of the economy,” the PCC explained.
 
Latest PCC data showed that of the 207 transactions reported to the commission, PCC had approved 192, blocked one, while the rest remain under review.
 
“With the increase in thresholds streamlining the intake of notified cases, this will allow the commission to efficiently use its resources towards other equally important elements of competition enforcement, including the conduct of cartel investigations, market monitoring and motu proprio merger review,” Balisacan said.