SAUDI ARABIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Alex Saleh, Asad Ahmad, Omar Halbouni and Shahad Al-Humaidani, GLA & Company
3.5 Information Included in a Filing The notification should generally be completed in Arabic. Notifying parties may choose to complete the forms in English, but this must be accompanied by an Arabic translation. When submitting the notification, the applicant should submit the following information and documents. • The duly completed notification form, including the declaration as to the validity and accuracy of the information contained in the notification. • The relevant identification documents of the person submitting the notification. • The required parties’ documents. • Evidence of payment of the prescribed fees for the economic concentration to be examined. • The finalised, duly executed agreement to carry out the economic concentration, stating the nature of the transaction and a description of the shares, equity, assets, rights or obligations to be pur - chased or transferred or management to be joined between the relevant entities. • A report that describes the economic impact of the transaction on the relevant markets (the “Economic Report”). This report should include a detailed description of the: (a) economic concentration transaction and the participating parties; (b) relevant sectors and markets in which the eco - nomic concentration may have an effect; (c) key customers of the participating parties in those sectors and markets; (d) key competitors of the participating parties in those sectors and markets; and (e) potential impact of the economic concentration transaction on competition in those sectors and markets (the GAC can discuss the con - tents of the Economic Report with the notify - ing parties and provide a brief template, upon request, as well as any other data, information or documents required by the GAC to review the economic concentration). • A full explanation of these submitted documents. For the acquiring entity/merging entity/first partner in the joint venture:
• validated power of attorney (POA) by the Ministry of Justice/Saudi Arabian Embassy/Saudi Arabian Consulate/Apostilled; • articles of association; • commercial register; and • financial statements for the last financial year (the “LFY”). For the target entity/merged entity/second partner in the joint venture: • validated POA by the Ministry of Justice/Saudi Ara - bian Embassy/Saudi Arabian Consulate/Apostilled; • articles of association; • commercial register; and • financial statements for the LFY. For the seller: • validated POA by the Ministry of Justice/Saudi Ara - bian Embassy/Saudi Arabian Consulate/Apostilled; • commercial register; and • the official contact persons for the economic concentration parties and any relevant third parties specified in the submission. 3.6 Penalties/Consequences of Incomplete or Inaccurate Notification If a notification is made without all requisite docu - ments, the GAC reserves the right to close the notifi - cation file. The GAC’s annual reports for 2019 to 2022 reveal that only one application was rejected in 2021 due to an incomplete notification application. This contrasts with 2020 and 2019, when there were no rejected applications. However, in 2022, one applica - tion was rejected due to potential efficiencies from the transaction, in the concentration parties’ view, that could be realised without the transaction being consummated. In addition, it was determined that the potential harms to competition outweighed the anticipated benefits of completing the transaction. In 2025, 269 transactions received clearance alongside 2 conditional approvals and zero rejections. Under Article 49 of the Implementing Regulations, if the notifying party is found to have withheld informa - tion, provided misleading information or concealed or destroyed documents that are useful to the GAC’s
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