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MANILA (UPDATED) - The country's competition watchdog said Tuesday it approved SM Retail Inc.'s acquisition of Goldilocks Bakeshop Inc. after both parties addressed potential concerns.

The PCC said there might be limited supply of retail space in SM Malls for Goldilocks' competition and the mall operator might also share the competition's sales information with Goldilocks.

"The SM Group committed to provide data protection, particularly the group commits not to give Goldilocks access to its competitor’s information including sales data that would be captured by the point of sales system of all SM Prime tenants," PCC Commissioner Stella Quimbo told ANC.

The SM Group "addressed the identified concerns" to the PCC on Dec. 22 and Dec. 28, the watchdog group said in a statement.

Moreover, SM Prime Holdings Inc, which operates the group's mall business, "undertook to give Goldilocks’ competitors a fair shake in their lease at all times," the PCC said.

"While selection of tenants in a mall is market-driven and based on consumer preferences, a mall operator should not be allowed to discriminate mall tenants and lease applicants, especially those that compete with stores owned by the mall itself," said PCC Chairman Arsenio Balisacan.

"Every mall goer knows that location is important, while every businessman knows that data informs business strategy. In this transaction, what we want is fair opportunities for big and small players," he said.

The PCC said SM was "legally obliged" to comply with its commitments, and will be monitored over 5 years.

"Any breach of these conditions might subject SM to fines or perhaps even additional conditions. There are other measures also available to the commission at extreme cases, the transaction might, in fact, be nullified but that would be an extreme situation," Quimbo said.