In brief
The Thai competition regulator, the Trade Competition Commission of Thailand (TCCT), recently imposed fines on real estate developers for not submitting merger notifications within the statutory period.
The fines were imposed in four cases – on both the companies and the responsible managers designated by their boards to oversee the transaction in question. The penalties were THB 1.3 million (reduced from THB 1.4 million), THB 1.3 million (reduced from THB 1.4 million), THB 1.3 million (reduced from THB 1.4 million), and THB 2.75 million (reduced from THB 5.3 million).
All of these cases were share acquisitions — namely, the acquirer’s purchasing shares in a target company holding property. In each case, the TCCT concluded that the transaction constituted a merger, which should be notified to the TCCT within seven days of closing. In one case, even though the target company had not generated any revenue in the previous year, the TCCT took the view that the transaction was notifiable.
Under the Competition Act 2017, an acquirer has the obligation to notify the TCCT of a merger that does not result in a company having dominance but in which the revenue of one party or the combined revenue of the parties in the previous year was THB 1 billion or more.
