Antitrust agency sets higher thresholds for deal clearance

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has raised the thresholds for mandatory notification of mergers and acquisition (M&A) deals, liberalizing its scope of supervision on potentially market-moving transactions.

In a statement on Wednesday, the PCC said notification to the antitrust watchdog would be mandatory for deals in which the size of party (SOP) reaches at least P8.5 billion, and 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.

According to the PCC, the size of party (SOP) is 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 had been enacted in 2015, with a baseline SOT threshold of just P1 billion.

READ: Antitrust body sets higher threshold for M&As

The new figures, which took effect on March 1, 2025, were adjusted based on the previous year’s nominal gross domestic product growth.

The PCC said that M&A transactions that had been notified before March 1, 2025 — as well as ongoing reviews and deals already decided — would not be affected by the updated thresholds.

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