MANILA — The Philippine Competition Commission on Friday said it would raise the threshold for the mandatory merger notification from March to reflect high inflation and other changes in the economic landscape.

Companies are required to notify the PCC of substantial mergers and acquisitions that breach the threshold so that the antitrust body can review if deals have possible implication on competition.

In a statement, the PCC said staring March 1, mergers and acquisitions that breach a size of party (SoP) of P7 billion and a size of transaction (SoT) of P2.9 billion would have to notify the agency for mandatory merger review.

"The Commission’s merger review thresholds are adjusted to keep pace with the changes in the markets and to reflect the businesses’ real value over time and relative to the size of the economy," it said.

Revised thresholds, however, do not apply to M&As pending review.

The PCC annually adjusts its thresholds based on the official estimate of the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of the previous year.

To date, the PCC said it has approved 206 transactions with a cumulative value of P4.94 trillion.

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