Chelsea: Competition body has ‘no further action’ on Trans-Asia acquisition

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Competition Commission “will not take further action” on Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp.’s acquisition of Trans-Asia Shipping Lines Inc., the firm led by Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy said Wednesday.

In a disclosure to the bourse, Chelsea said the anti-trust body’s decision on its proposed acquisition of two million common shares of Trans-Asia was reached on the basis of conditions that the company submitted.

Among the conditions were:

• Agreement to price monitoring of passenger and cargo rates
• Submission of semi-annual reports on all trips of passenger and cargo services in the critical routes
• Explanation of all extraordinary rates increases in the critical routes
• Maintenance of service quality of passenger and cargo routes based on customer satisfaction index developed by third party monitor

To recall, the transaction was earlier voided due to Chelsea and Trans-Asia’s failure to notify the PCC about the deal.

READ: Competition watchdog voids Uy-led Chelsea's takeover of Trans-Asia

The nullification of the Trans-Asia deal led to PCC’s “conditional clearance” of Chelsea’s takeover of shares in KGLI-NM Holdings Inc., a key shareholder of integrated transport solutions provider 2Go Group Inc.  An initial investigation by the PCC found that Chelsea’s control of both 2Go and Trans-Asia would lead to a substantial lessening of competition.

A hearing was held at the PCC last September, as the parties sought to have both decisions reconsidered.

FROM BUSINESSWORLD: CLC-Trans-Asia deal under review

— Ian Nicolas Cigaral