Antitrust agency raises threshold for mandatory M&A notification
The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has raised the thresholds for mandatory notification of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals, thus liberalizing its supervision on potential market-moving transactions.
In a statement on Wednesday, the PCC said they only need to be notified when the size of party (SOP) reaches at least P8.5 billion and if the size of transaction (SOT) hits P3.5 billion.
These levels are up from the previous thresholds of P7.8 billion for SOP and P3.2 billion for SOT.
The adjustments mean that M&A deals below the new thresholds can proceed without securing prior clearance from the antitrust agency.
The PCC defines size of party (SOP) as the total value of the assets or earnings of the biggest company involved in the M&A deal.
This marked the eighth time that the PCC recalibrated the thresholds since the Philippine Competition Act was enacted in 2015, with a baseline SOT threshold of just P1 billion.
The new figures, which took effect on March 1, 2025, were adjusted based on the previous year’s nominal gross domestic product growth, said the PCC.
Updated numbers
The PCC said that M&A transactions brought to it before March 1, 2025—as well as ongoing reviews and deals already decided—would not be affected by the updated thresholds.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort told the Inquirer that the higher threshold amounts would give more leeway for M&A deals to proceed.
“This would somewhat encourage more M&A deals in the country with the latest upward adjustments of the threshold amounts,” he said.
He added that the thresholds could have been raised as a response to rising prices and inflation in recent years, aiming to better reflect the current valuations of M&A transactions.
To date, the PCC said it received 328 M&A transactions, with a combined value of P6.27 trillion.
The top five sectors are manufacturing with 57 deals, followed by financial and insurance with 53, real estate with 47, electricity and gas with 45, and transportation and storage with 32.
In 2024, the PCC said it reviewed 17 transactions with a combined value of P784 billion.
