The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is expected to step up its review of mergers and acquisitions this year, once the Bayanihan II law expires in September.
“As firms continue to struggle from lower demand and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remain vulnerable to indebtedness and closures, risks of anti-competitive behavior persist, including anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions, cartel activities, and abuses of dominance,” PCC Chairperson Arsenio M. Balisacan said in the Commission’s year-end report released on Monday, January 10.
Republic Act No. 11494, or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan II), exempts from compulsory PCC notification all mergers and acquisitions with transaction value of less than P50 billion (US$977.1 million) that were entered into two years from the law’s effectivity.
Once the law expires in September, companies whose parent company assets exceed P6 billion(US$117.2 million) and whose merger and acquisition transactions exceed P2.4 billion(US$46.91 million) will once again be required to notify the regulator.
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