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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.

In more detail

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.

Author

Pornapa Luengwattanakit currently leads Baker McKenzie’s Corporate & Commercial, Tax, as well as the International Trade, Compliance & Customs practice groups in Thailand. She practices mainly in the areas of corporate restructuring, major projects, mergers and acquisitions and trade competition. Ms. Luengwattanakit joined Baker McKenzie in 1982 and became a partner in 1989.

Author

Sorachon Boonsong is highly regarded for serving multinational clients in a broad range of commercial transactions involving mergers and acquisitions, insurance company mergers and acquisitions, power projects, as well as oil, gas and petrochemicals matters. He also heads the real estate, hotel/resort and property development team, as well as the insurance practice group. Sorachon joined Baker McKenzie in 1991 and became a partner in 2001. Under his stewardship, the Corporate/M&A, Real Estate, and Insurance practice groups of Baker & McKenzie Bangkok have all achieved Band 1 ranking from Chambers Asia Pacific. Sorachon is also recognized as a Band 1 individual lawyer for all three practice areas.

Author

Ampika Kumar is a Partner at the Baker McKenzie Office in Bangkok. She joined Baker McKenzie in February 2002 and is currently active in the Corporate and Commercial and Insurance practice groups. Her areas of expertise include insurance regulatory, corporate restructuring, mergers & acquisitions (both for private limited and public limited companies) and trade competition. Ampika is recognized as a "Band 2" lawyer in the area of Insurance and 'Band 1' in Competition / Antitrust for Thailand by the Chambers Asia Pacific guide.

Author

Duangkamon Amkaew joined Baker McKenzie in 2002 and was named a partner in 2013. She is active in the Corporate & Commercial, Mergers & Acquisitions, Real Estate, and Hotel/Resort & Property Development practice groups. She provides legal advice to a wide variety of multinational clients in a broad range of commercial transactions involving mergers and acquisitions; real estate, hotel, resort, and property development; property fund; real estate investment trusts (REITs); strategic alliances and various types of joint venture arrangements. She was also instrumental in the establishment of Thailand's first REIT and continues to lead the market for advice in this area.