By: Rostom Omar, Esq. (Primerio/African Antitrust)
Egypt finally adopts a new merger-control regime that would transform the system from a post-notification to a pre-approval system.
After nearly twenty years of applying Competition Law in Egypt and After several attempts from the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) to introduce a pre-merger notifications regime and several discussions with government, the parliament and sectorial regulators; on Dec 4th, 2022 the Egyptian parliament has finally approved the proposal to amend the Law on Protection of Competition and Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices No. 3 of 2005 (ECL).
It is worth mentioning in this regard that Egypt was the only country in the region and one of the few countries in the world whose law was not adopting merger Pre- approval system; at a time when M&As increased significantly in the region during the last few years and in which Egypt occupies an advanced position.
According to article 19 of the ECL (Post notification) the acquisition of shares or assets, or joint venture that results in a change of control of an entity or material influence over such entity should be notified after 30 days of concluding the transaction if the combined turnover of the parties exceeds 100 M EGP. It is not yet clear if the non-controlling minority acquisitions would be included in the new filing requirement…
