Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) is seeking new adjustments to the Competition Protection Law to oblige firms which will conduct any merger or acquisition (M&A) to first obtain the approval of the ECA, chairperson Mona El-Garf told Shorouk newspaper on Tuesday.
The ECA is determined to send the proposed amendments to the minister of trade and industry within a month and a half, El-Garf said.
The value of the to-be-monitored deals was not settled yet, but it would exceed EGP 100 million, she added, noting that the proposed amendments require the ECA to respond to firms within a period of 45 days.
The size of the obliged deal has to be high at first so it would not be difficult for investors, as it might drop later, she said.
The current law stipulates that the ECA needs to be notified of all M&A deals, as long as they exceed EGP 100 million.
In an attempt to justify this step, El-Garf indicated that Egypt is the only country among Arab and African countries in which the Competition Protection Law does not stipulate the competition authority's approval of M&A operations, adding that these amendments were due to be finalised in March 2017.
