ISLAMABAD, 26 JANUARY 2017: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has cleared 69 pre-merger applications in 2016 under Section 11 of the Competition Act, 2010.

Under Section 11, the undertakings intending to acquire the shares or assets of another undertaking, or two or more undertakings intending to merge and meet the pre-merger notification thresholds stipulated in the Merger Regulations, have to apply for clearance from CCP.

The CCP’s Mergers & Acquisitions Department processes the pre-merger application in light of the law and the Commission issues the approval in the form of an order within thirty days after receiving a complete pre-merger application. In case of the Phase-II review, the pre-merger application is processed and order is issued by the CCPwithin ninety days.

Out of the 69 pre-merger applications received in 2016, one pre-merger application was sent for Phase-II review, which was approved after imposing conditions to address certain competition concerns.

Out of the total 69 approvals granted by CCP, 58 were Acquisitions, 8 Mergers and 3 Joint Ventures applications. A sector-wise classification of these approvals include, 11 in Power & Energy,  9 in Pharmaceuticals, 7 in Banks & Financial Services, 7 in Food & Beverages, 7 in Conglomerate, 6 in Steel & Engineering, 6 in Insurance, 4 in Communication & Logistics, 4 in Chemicals, 3 in Construction, 2 in Textile Industry, 1 in Hotel Industry, 1 in Shipping Industry and 1 in Allied Services. The highest numbers of mergers were witnessed in the Power/Energy and Pharmaceuticals sector with 11 and 9 mergers processed, respectively.

In order to facilitate undertakings and their representatives with the merger clearance process, the CCP has established an online portal for e-filling of pre-merger applications. The pre-merger applications can now also be submitted with CCP online at www.cc.gov.pk. Moreover, CCP has also conducted Merger training workshops in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi for better understanding of Pakistan’s Merger Regime by members of the legal community.