Competition panel to notify M&A norms by May 5

The Competition Commission of India is likely to finalise and notify final guidelines on mergers & acquisitions by May 5 as it is yet to receive suggestions from some industry players, chairman Dhanendra Kumar said on Friday.

“Our target now is May 5 because some of them have sought couple of days more to send in their suggestions,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Indo-US partnership.

The new norms on M&As will become effective from June 1.
The competition watchdog is trying to address concerns expressed by different industry players on issues such as transition period in respect of transactions, which will happen before June 1, he said.

The commission is also in touch with the Securities and
Exchange Board of India to avoid conflicts with existing takeover regulations and to harmonise the two.

“We are in constant touch with Sebi and their representatives had come for discussions. There would not be any area of conflict or concern,” he said.

As per the proposed guidelines, Indian companies involved in M&As will now need to notify the competition commission about their proposed deal if their combined annual revenue is at least Rs3,000 crore. For two groups of Indian companies, the combined revenue needs to be at least Rs12,000 crore.

Two foreign companies with a presence in India will also have to inform the commission of their M&A deal in case they have combined annual sales of at least $1.5 billion. In case of two global groups, the threshold is $6 billion.