The year 2020 was an eventful year for competition law in Thailand: four public hearings took place, three industry-specific regulations focused on unfair practices were delivered, and after the publishing of a merger control manual, two pre-closing merger approvals were handed out, resulting in one landmark case leading to remedies.
Weighing up the year just past, Pranat Laohapairoj and Jutharat Anuktanakul, partners at Chandler MHM say it was nothing short of “impactful.”
“2020 was a good year because the Office of Trade Competition Commission (OTCC) released many case precedents, many of which are useful for practitioners as they narrow down many formerly unclear fields into more manageable schemes,” Pranat and Jutharat say.
A banner year for M&A deals
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Despite the pandemic, there were many large merger and acquisition agreements
published : 25 Dec 2020 at 07:00
1 A woman pushes a shopping cart in front of a Tesco Lotus store in Bangkok. CP Group s acquisition of the hypermarket chain was one of the largest deals this year. (Photo by Wisit Tham-ngern)
Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity looked strong at the beginning of 2020 with numerous transactions, including the acquisition of the Ninth Towers office building and Unilever House office building projects (US$186 million and $50.4 million, respectively) by CPN Retail Growth Leasehold REIT.
In the first quarter of 2020, according to international consulting firm KPMG, the real estate, infrastructure and construction sectors contributed 83.5% of the $1.36 billion M&A transaction value.
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The impending Charoen Pokphand Group s Tesco buyout will be explained by the companies to the House Committee on Commerce and Intellectual Property on Wednesday.
Representatives of Tesco Plc and the CP Group will disclose details of the acquisition deal at the committee s invitation, said Sirikanya Tansakun, chairwoman of the committee.
Earlier, the committee invited Somsak Kiatchailak, secretary-general of the Office of Trade Competition Commission (OTCC), to testify about the matter.
The government s competition watchdog early last month approved the Group s US$10.6-billion acquisition of the British supermarket s Thai operations. The deal would see CP acquire 86.9% of Tesco s Thai operations and 100% of the UK retailer s Malaysian business, prospects that many say give the company an unfair hold on the retail sector in Thailand.