Public Consultation on Proposed Amendments to Competition Act 2010 – Introduction of Merger Controls in Malaysia

On 25 April 2022, the Malaysia Competition Commission (“MyCC“) issued for public consultation, salient points of its proposed amendments to the Competition Act 2010 (“Competition Act“). The proposed amendments aim not only to strengthen MyCC’s investigative and enforcement powers, but also to establish an economy-wide merger control regime in Malaysia.

Currently, mergers and acquisitions (“M&As“) are regulated only in the aviation and telecommunications sectors by their respective regulators, the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), respectively. Businesses and their advisers (including lawyers and investment bankers) will need to ensure that their M&A transactions are afforded proper competition scrutiny, and comply with the Competition Act once the proposed amendments are in force. It is highly possible that the remainder of 2022 and H1 2023 will see a rush by parties contemplating or in the midst of negotiating large M&A transactions, to complete the same to avoid MyCC’s purview over their transactions as the proposed introduction of merger controls is expected to take place in Q4 of 2023