Holdings Co. and Suntory Holdings Ltd. on Tuesday filed an application with the Fair Trade Commission for a preliminary investigation into whether their proposed merger would run counter to the Antimonopoly Law, officials said.
Kirin and Suntory are seeking to integrate, creating one of the world's largest beverage makers.
The FTC will judge whether the integration would conflict with the law. Their combined share in the domestic beer market currently exceeds 50 percent.
Kirin and Suntory are working out details of the proposed deal, including business plans and the merger ratio.
They hope to reach a basic agreement on the integration by the end of this year.