The Philippine Competition Commission said Thursday it approved the acquisition of Splash Corp. by Wipro Enterprises Private Limited of India.
PCC said while the companies were both involved in the manufacturing and distribution of personal care products, the transaction would not be anti-competitive in nature.
Wipro Enterprises, a company based in Bangalore, India, earlier expressed interest to acquire Splash from Ang Hortaleza Corp. of the Hortaleza family.
After the acquisition, Wipro Enterprises through a wholly-owned subsidiary will own the domestic and international retail personal care business of Splash that include related inventories, plant, property and equipment, intangible assets such as patents and trademarks and its foreign subsidiaries.
PCC said in its review that among the many products of Wipro and Splash, the relevant market with overlaps would be the manufacture and distribution of whitening lotions.
The agency’s Mergers and Acquisitions Office said in a decision dated Feb. 19 that the transaction would not result in substantial lessening of competition in the relevant market.
It said no competition concern was found because there was sufficient competitive constraint from other firms involved in the whitening products market even after the transaction.
Splash is a Filipino company involved in personal care and food manufacturing, marketing and distribution of products such as Maxi-Peel, SkinWhite lotion and Flawlessly U soap in the Philippines and other countries.
Wipro Enterprises has two main businesses, including Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting and Wipro Infrastructure Engineering.
Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting provides personal care products such as Enchanteur lotion, Santoor soap and Chandrika soap, and lighting solutions and office furniture while Wipro Infrastructure Engineering provides hydraulic solutions for a wide range of diverse applications, precision engineered components for aerospace and defense, water solutions and wastewater treatment for industrial applications and additive manufacturing solutions.
PCC, the country’s anti-trust body, is mandated under the Philippine Competition Act to review mergers and acquisitions to ensure that these deals will not harm the interest of consumers.
