Chile: Economic Prosecutor sets rules for mandatory merger reviews

Chile’s National Economic Prosecutor (FNE) has taken a major step in the implementation of recent reforms to the country’s competition law, approved earlier this year by congress. The regulator has included a mandatory merger review for specific instances of company acquisitions, whenever the sales surpass a certain threshold.

The FNE included two specific measures which must both be met in order to trigger a mandatory review: First, the companies that intend to undertake a merger must have combined annual sales of more than $72 million USD; and each separate company must also have annual sales of $11.7 million USD or above.

Prosecutor Felipe Irarrázabal commented on the announcement, saying that Congress did not initially set any benchmark figures, rather allowing the regulator to have the necessary flexibility to make future adjustments. “We are open to the possibility of moving the benchmarks in the future” said Mr. Irarrázabal. The FNE is also legally empowered to order a review of any merger, even when falling outside these parameters.

Full Content: Economía y Negocios

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