Tag: Competition Tribunal

Consumer benefits in mergers should be the central consideration when evaluating whether a merger enhances or harms the market for consumers. The Competition Tribunal recently blocked a merger between Maziv and Vodacom, two major players in South Africa's telecommunications sector.

The international company Meta (which owns Facebook and WhatsApp) has been referred to the Competition Tribunal, to be fined 10% of its turnover for violating Section 8 provisions of the Competition Act, which prohibit the abuse of dominance by a company.

The Competition Commission has recently referred WesBank, the car finance division of First Rand Bank, and Toyota Financial Services South Africa (TSA) to the Competition Tribunal, to be fined 10% of their turnover for the alleged violation of the Competition Act.

The Competition Commission has recently prohibited a transaction between Emerging Capital Partners Africa (ECP) and Grand Parade Investments, a private equity firm listed in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The transaction would have seen ECP acquire Grand Parade’s stake in Burger King South Africa (BKSA) as well as Grand Foods Meat Plant (Pty) Ltd.

The Competition Commission (the Commission) has released proposed amendments to its guidelines to small merger notification, which are set to take effect after 7 June 2021. The guidelines have been introduced to address the commission’s concerns regarding the increasing acquisitions of new innovative companies by established players, particularly in the digital markets.

On 18 May 2020, the Competition Commission published its final Buyer Power Guidelines (the guidelines). Earlier this year, the new buyer power provisions of the Competition Act 89 of 1998 (the Act) came into effect. These provisions prohibit dominant buyers in designated sectors from imposing unfair prices or trading conditions on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and firms owned and controlled by historically disadvantaged persons (HDP).

When faced with legislation that requires parties to take certain steps or prevents them from implementing a particular course of action, the questions often asked include 'what are the consequences and who will be liable to pay?' For a long time been uncertainty about the penalty firms would face if they fail to notify a merger and/or implement a merger without the requisite approval of the competition authorities.

The South African Competition Amendment Act 18 of 2018 (‘the Amendment Act’) which was tabled in Parliament in July 2018, and signed into law by President Ramaphosa last month, has been the subject of much debate and comment, especially insofar as it aims to implement far-reaching changes to the currentCompetition Act 89 of 1998 (‘the Competition Act’).