Presmooi (Pty) Ltd, Savyon Building (Pty) Ltd and Another v Drystone Investments (Pty) Ltd and Others (016527) [2013] ZACT 53 (14 June 2013)

Parties

Procedural Posture

Merger Application / Tribunal Approval With Conditions

Legal Issues

1. 1 Whether the proposed merger is likely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in the relevant markets.
2. 2 Whether the merger raises public interest concerns, particularly regarding potential retrenchments.

Ratio Decidendi

The Tribunal found that the proposed merger would not result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in any relevant market, as the market share accretions were minimal and post-merger market shares remained low. The Tribunal accepted the Commission's analysis regarding product classification and geographic overlap, and agreed that no further competition analysis was required. On the public interest issue, the Tribunal imposed conditions to protect employment, requiring that no employees of the target firms be retrenched as a result of the merger for two years, except in cases of voluntary separation, early retirement, or reasonable refusal to redeploy. The Tribunal...

Court Disposition

Merger conditionally approved subject to employment protection conditions.

Orders

• No employees of the target firms shall be retrenched as a result of this merger within two years after the approval date, except for voluntary separation, early retirement, or reasonable refusal to redeploy.
• Should the acquiring firms wish to retrench within the two-year period, they must notify the Commission and motivate why such retrenchments are not merger-specific or merger-related.