The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has agreed in principle to the integration presented as part of a pre-merger application under Section 11 of the Competition Act, 2010, for the merging of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges.
The approval was given during a hearing held on Tuesday for the second phase review of the pre-merger application. The bench hearing the matter comprised Vadiyya Khalil, Chairperson, Mueen Batlay, Member Mergers & Acquisitions, Dr Shahzad Ansar, Member Office of Fair Trade & Advocacy, and Ikram-ul-Haque Qureshi, Member Cartels & Trade Abuse and Legal.
According to a press release, the hearing for the second phase review of the pre-merger application follows the order passed by CCP for the first phase review on 22 October, 2015.
The first phase review order enumerated the competition concerns anticipated by CCP vis-à-vis the different stakeholders concerned including new companies aiming to list on the integrated exchange, and brokers from both the transferring exchanges as well as new entrants to the market. The potential impact of existing and future exchanges was also one of the concerns raised in the order.
During the Tuesday hearing, the parties responded at length to the concerns raised in the order, as well as to numerous further queries posed by the bench. A detailed order providing reasoning of the CCP will follow in due course.
