Watchdog to check palm oil acquisitions

The Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) will look into the acquisition of Markham Farming Company Limited (MFCL) by New Britain Palm Oil Limited (NBPOL).
The commission advised that even though MFCL and NBPOL announced that the acquisition was completed on Aug 23, the parties did not obtain its clearance or authorisation.
Commissioner and chief executive officer Paulus Ain said in a statement yesterday that it was important for businesses to apply for clearance or authorisation from the ICCC to protect them from potential legal action from the ICCC or any aggrieved third parties under the ICCC Act.
“The ICCC administered a voluntary merger notification regime under the ICCC Act where businesses were not required to apply for clearance or authorisation for any proposed merger or acquisition.
“However, on July 25th, 2018, the ICCC Act was amended by Parliament making it mandatory for parties to a merger or an acquisition to give notice seeking a clearance from the ICCC if the merger or acquisition fell within certain thresholds.”
According to Ain, the transaction value of the recent oil palm acquisition of K174 million fell within that threshold, which was at least K50 million.
Ain, however, explained that the acquisition was not subject to the new threshold because the new amended ICCC Act was yet to be certified by the Speaker’s Office.
Despite that, he said businesses should still apply for clearance or authorisation under the ICCC Act.
“This is because in the event that the new amended ICCC Act is certified and gazetted, the amended ICCC Act may be made retrospective and come into effect on the date that it was passed by Parliament, which is 25th July 2018,” he said.
“Failure to give notice seeking clearance from the ICCC is an automatic fine of K750,000. Therefore, to safeguard businesses from this potential effect, they should apply for a clearance or authorisation if the proposed acquisition would be completed after 25th July 2018.”
Ain said the ICCC reserves its rights under the Act to investigate any acquisitions and take legal action if it was satisfied the acquisition would have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market in Papua New Guinea.