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Philippine Watchdog Ups Merger Review Requirements

By  |  September 18, 2022

The Philippines is looking to require prior approval for more mergers and acquisitions as it seeks to expand its reviews of transactions to better protect consumers.

Dozens of companies in the past two years were exempted from notifying the antitrust body and seeking approval for takeovers and mergers, as part of a government effort to encourage and fasttrack deals during the pandemic.

But effective Friday, mergers and acquisitions above 2.5 billion pesos ($43 million) are subject to review, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) said in a statement.

Companies with more than 6.1 billion pesos ($106.35 million) in assets or revenues engaging in such deals must also seek PCC approval.

Those compare to a much larger deals threshold of above 50 billion pesos ($871 million) that was introduced for a two-year period from September 2020.

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