CCP approves IGI Investments’ stake acquisition in Akzo Nobel Pakistan

The Competition Commission of Pakistan has cleared IGI Investments (Private) Limited's plan to buy a shareholding in Akzo Nobel Pakistan Limited from ICI Omicron B.V., Business Recorder reported. The green light came after a first-phase review of the deal. IGI Investments is a fully owned unit of IGI Holdings Limited, acting as the investment wing of the IGI Group and holding equity and debt securities, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

For its assessment, the regulator framed decorative paints and industrial coatings as the product markets, and took Pakistan as the geographic scope. The review found no horizontal overlap or vertical link between the parties in those markets, so market share and concentration would not change. The seller, a Dutch holding company, belongs to the Akzo Nobel N.V. group and invests in coatings.

The CCP concluded that the deal would neither create nor strengthen a dominant position, and it approved the deal under Section 31 of the Competition Act, 2010. Some ancillary restrictions in the agreement may need an exemption under Section 5 of the same Act, read with the 2020 exemption regulations.