PCC speeds up review of qualified deals by 15 days

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) said it will be shortening the time it takes to review qualified merger and acquisition transactions starting July 2.

In a statement on Tuesday, June 18, the commission said that the faster merger review process, under the regular phase 1 merger assessment, will take only 15 days from the current 30 calendar days.

PCC Chairman Arsenio Balisacan said the merger review is a testament to their commitment to be more efficient, especially when dealing with transactions that do not seem to lessen competition in the market.

Balisacan also noted that the Philippines’ 30-day calendar review is already among the shortest in the world. (READ: DTI, antitrust body to strengthen market competition in new partnership)

To qualify for the expedited review, parties will have to apply within 30 days after signing the definitive agreement.

A transaction can qualify for a faster merger review if:

• There is no potential or actual overlapping relationship between the acquiring party and the acquired party as well as the entities under it.
• The parties in the transaction are foreign firms and their Philippine subsidiaries are manufacturers or product assembers with at least 95% of the goods exported. The remaining 5% of the goods that will be sold locally should be minimal in relation to the market it belongs to. 
• The parties involved in the transaction which have a global presence should have a “negligible or limited presence” in the country. 
• A joint venture is purely meant for the construction and development of a residential or commercial real estate project.  

“Every merger review employs different levels of technical expertise and resources,” Balisacan said.

“The expedited review of mergers that are less likely to pose competition issues will lead to more efficient use of commission resources towards the implementation of a holistic merger control regime,” he added.

So far, the PCC has approved 174 transactions out of 184 notifications received, most of these in the manufacturing sector. Only one transaction has been blocked, so far. – Rappler.com