MANILA -- The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) announced on Monday that it has finally approved the transaction between Udenna Corp. and Dutch firm KGL Investment Cooperatief (KGLI Coop), effectively reversing its ruling last February.
In a decision dated May 4, the PCC has given its go-signal for Udenna to buyout KGLI Coop's outstanding stock in KGL Investment B.V. The transaction is reportedly worth some USD 120 million.
The approval came after both companies have complied with conditions in the Commission's February ruling. The parties already notified the PCC of their transaction and paid the administrative fine amounting to PHP19.6 million to the National Treasury.
To recall, the Commission ruled last February to void the transaction of Udenna and KGLI Coop and penalize the firms with PHP19.6-million administrative fine for not notifying the antitrust body of their deal.
Before the PCC hiked the notification threshold in March this year, enterprises with transactions breaching the PHP1-billion mark are obliged to first notify the Commission, which will then conduct review.
The review aims to ensure that the transaction does not negatively impact free market competition.
The PCC initially prevented the Udenna-KGLI Coop transaction from being consumated because it was not notified of the transaction, which easily breached the PHP1-billion threshold.
PCC’s decision noted that it approved the transaction between the companies as it “is not likely to result in lessening of competition with the Philippine market because there are no existing horizontal overlaps or vertical relationships that exist between the parties”.
Udenna now owns 100 percent of KGLI B.V. (PNA)
