One Step Closer... Vietnam Competition Authority Approves Korean Air-Asiana Merger

Korea, USA, EU, China, Japan: Reviews Pending from 5 Countries

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Je-hoon] Korean Air's acquisition and integration of Asiana Airlines is progressing step by step. This is because the merger review by each country's competition authorities, a prerequisite for the acquisition and integration, is being completed one by one.

Korean Air announced on the 16th that the Vietnamese competition authority recently approved the corporate merger related to the acquisition of Asiana Airlines. Vietnam is one of the nine essential countries where merger notifications are required.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam stated in the approval decision document, "Korean Air's acquisition and merger of Asiana Airlines is not a transaction prohibited under Vietnamese competition law," and requested, "Please comply with Vietnamese competition law regulations going forward."

Since Korean Air filed merger notifications with the competition authorities of the nine mandatory notification countries in January, it has passed the reviews by the authorities in Turkey, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Thailand also notified Korean Air that it is not subject to prior merger review. Additionally, Korean Air received approval from Malaysia, a voluntary notification country, and received an opinion from the Philippine competition authority that it is not subject to notification, thus concluding the procedure.

As a result, the remaining mandatory notification countries pending approval have been reduced to five: South Korea, the United States, the European Union (EU), China, and Japan. Korean Air is actively cooperating with additional requests from the competition authorities of these countries while awaiting approval, and plans to complete the procedures promptly to finalize the acquisition of Asiana Airlines.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.