Property developer Ayala Land Inc. obtained a clearance from the Philippine Competition Commission to buy a 290-hectare lot from Central Azucarera de Tarlac.
Central Azucarera de Tarlac, which operates a sugar mill and refinery, distillery and carbon dioxide plants in Tarlac City, also owns Luisita Land Corp. which is engaged in developing, leasing and selling real properties and other ancillary services in the former Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac province.
PCC, the country’s anti-trust body, said in a decision signed on March 6 that its Mergers and Acquisitions Office found that the acquisition by Ayala Land of a 290-hectare property from Central Azucarera de Tarlac would not result in substantial lessening of competition in their respective relevant markets.
Share price of Central Azucarera de Tarlac jumped 36.4 percent Thursday to P46.85, while Ayala Land rose 0.1 percent to P41.50.
Documents from PCC showed Ayala Land wanted to buy the large property in Barangay Central, San Miguel, Tarlac City. PCC said the parties were not operating in the same geographic market, rendering the deal as not anti-competitive.
Ayala Land is primarily engaged in the planning and development of large-scale and integrated estates, property management, construction and other businesses like retail and healthcare.
Central Azucarera de Tarlac is also a publicly-listed corporation engaged in the manufacturing of sugar and all its by-products.
Meanwhile, PCC said it also approved the acquisition by Fullerton Healthcare Corp. Ltd. of 60 percent of the issued and outstanding capital shares in Asalus Corp., Avega Managed Care Inc. and Aventus Medical Care Inc. which are related domestic corporations.
The agency’s Mergers and Acquisitions Office said there would be no overlap between the parties in the domestic geographic market in health maintenance organization, third-party administration products and clinical and drug testing laboratories.
Fullerton, the acquiring firm, is a foreign corporation whose subsidiaries are engaged principally in the provision of enterprise healthcare services and specialty service in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Australia and New Zealand.
Asalus Corp., which is operating under the trade name “Intellicare” is into the business of developing, maintaining, and promoting integrated medical and health maintenance services. It offers HMO products and standard full HMO services.
Avega is engaged in the business of developing, maintaining, and promoting integrated medical and health maintenance services through the accreditation, integration and professional maintenance of the services of healthcare facilities and providers.
Aventus is engaged in the business of establishing, owning and managing medical clinics and medical or clinical laboratories, including drug testing laboratories and providing medical and healthcare services and products.
PCC is required to review mergers and acquisitions, including joint ventures, that meet the P2 billion to P5 billion threshold to ensure that these deals will not harm the interest of consumers.
