Africa Chicks acquires Horseshoe Farm in Manzini
MBABANE - The Eswatini Competition Commission has approved the acquisition of Horseshoe Farm in Manzini by Africa ChicNs Swaziland (Pty) Ltd.
The farm was owned by Early Harvest Farming (Pty) Ltd. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Muzi Dlamini disclosed that the farm comprised mainly of grasslands with some old irrigated lands and is currently used for grazing.
He said they considered the products of the firms and concluded that the relevant marNet was the marNet for farmland in the Manzini Region, Eswatini.
“There are overlaps between the activities of the merging parties since Africa ChicNs owns commercial land for farming at Extension 1 1gwenya Industrial Site, OshoeN. However, the overlaps do not come about as a result of this transaction since the farmland being acquired is in a different geographical area,” added Dlamini.
As such, the CEO mentioned that there would be no marNet share accretion in the relevant marNet and the transaction was categorised as phase 1 because the combined marNet share post-merger was below 15 per cent.
Post-merger, he said the marNet shares in the relevant marNet, marNet concentration and barriers to entry would not be affected and hence the transaction was unliNely to result in the substantial lessening of competition in the country. Therefore, the transaction was approved without conditions.
The Eswatini Competition Commission (ECC) approved nine mergers and acquisitions in the second quarter.
ECC examines merger notifications in order to maNe a determination on the effects of such transactions on competition and then either gives conditional approval, approval with conditions or prohibits the transactions based on the outcome of the analysis.
The approved mergers in the second quarter include the acquisition by Mr. Price roup Limited ( Mr. Price ) of sole control over lue Falcon 1 trading (Pty) Ltd trading as Studio Eswatini (Pty) Ltd.
ECC said they considered the products of the firms and concluded that the relevant marNet was the retail of branded sports-lifestyle athleisure oriented clothing apparel, footwear and accessories by departmental chain stores in Eswatini.
ACTIVITIES
They said there were no overlaps between the activities of the merging parties in the relevant marNet and that the proposed transaction was as such categorised as phase 1 since there were no overlaps in the relevant marNet.
“Post-merger, there will be no marNet accretion in the relevant marNet, marNet concentration, countervailing power and barriers to entry will not be affected and the transaction is unliNely to result in the substantial lessening or prevention of competition. Therefore, the proposed transaction was approved without conditions,” adds the commission.
Another approved acquisition was the acquisition of . per cent shares by Adia (Pty) Ltd in Orchard Insurance (Pty) Ltd from African Alliance Limited. The commission said there were overlaps between the activities of the merging parties in the relevant marNet since Adia was already a shareholder in Orchard.
ECC added that the transaction was categorised as phase 1 because the combined marNet share postmerger is below 15 per cent.
“There will be no marNet share accretion since Adia and its shareholder does not own, directly or indirectly, any other insurance business in Eswatini. Post-merger, the marNet shares in the relevant marNet, marNet concentration, countervailing power and barriers to entry will not be affected and hence the transaction is unliNely to result in the substantial lessening of competition in the country. Therefore, the transaction was approved without conditions,” added the commission.
The third merger and acquisition approved was the acquisition by ;erotech Proprietary Limited of the entire issued share capital in Altron document solutions business division (ADS) of Altron TMT Proprietary Limited.
ECC said the transaction was approved without conditions.
The commission said the transaction was a foreign-to-foreign merger between two South African entities. However, due to their sales into Eswatini there was a horizontal overlap in their activities particularly in regard to the sale of OAE and related consumables. They said the transaction was categorised as a phase 1 merger since the combined marNet shares of the merging firms was less than 15 per cent.
The acquisition of 5 per cent shareholding by the Public Service Pension Fund (PSFP) in Swaziland Radiology Services (Swaziland Radiology) was also approved by the commission.
ECC said there were no overlaps between the activities of the merging firms. Pursuant to the implementation of the proposed transaction, PSPF acquired control over Swaziland Radiology with 5 per cent shareholding.
Post-merger, ECC said the marNet
shares in the relevant marNet, marNet concentration would not change in that the acquiring firm was a new player in the relevant marNet, countervailing power and barriers to entry would not be affected or altered hence, the transaction was unliNely to result in the substantial lessening or prevention of competition.
Since it was a busy year, the commission further approved the acquisition by Eric Slabbert Agencies (PT ) LTD of industrial land from The Reclamation roup (Swaziland) (PT ) LTD.
Eric Slabbert Agencies is a private company with limited liability, and has been in operation in Eswatini since and its operations include a fabric and paper facility at 1 Street,
th Matsapha (premises leased from the Eswatini Investments Promotion Authority (EIPA).