Thursday, September 28, 2006
@10:36 AM
Anti-competitive mergersThis article appeared on the front page of The Business Times today. A short summary ~
Provisions under the Competition Act to prohibit anti-competitive mergers will come into force on July 1 next year - later than some had expected. In its current form, parties to the mergers can apply for the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) view on whether a merger is anti-competitive ONLY AFTER a merger has been completed. Then this spokeperson says that "feedback" from the industry suggests this should be extended to mergers that have not been completed, so firms considering a merger could check with the CCS whether it would fall foul of the rules.This was one of the "feedbacks" that cause the delay in implementation of the new provision. I say they are crap in the first place. If they are practioners who use abit more brain, they will know that if they only express their views ONLY AFTER the merger, they are wasting everybody's time. It's like saying ~ "Here you go. Go and do it. I will tell you if you have crossed MY boundaries after you have done it".
Crap, how can a comission body be foolish enough to think of such policy in the first place? Can you imagine the uncertainty these firms will face? Not to mention the significant cost of unravelling a completed merger. I really felt disgusted when I learnt that policy makers have to waste time and money on deriving useless policies the first time round, before they have to waste time and money again to amend them. Crap ~
by Str|fe
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