ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Tuesday approved the integration of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges paving the way for demutualisation of these bourses.

The approval was given during a hearing for the second phase review of the pre-merger application.

The commission approved the pre-merger application forwarded by the three stock exchanges under Section 11 of the Competition Act, 2010.

All mergers are to be approved by the CCP.

The bench hearing the matter comprised of CCP Chairperson Vadiyya Khalil, Member Mergers and Acquisitions Mueen Batlay, Member Office of Fair Trade and Advocacy Dr Shahzad Ansar and Member Cartels and Trade Abuse and Legal Ikramul Haque Qureshi.

The hearing for the second phase review of the pre-merger application follows the order passed by the CCP for the first phase review on Oct 22, 2015.

The first phase review order enumerated the competition concerns anticipated by the CCP that were related to 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 hearing all 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 the reasoning of the CCP shall follow in due course.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2015

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