Mahindra, Ford joint venture approved

MAHINDRA & Mahindra and the Ford Motor Company (FMC) will establish a joint venture, following the Competition Tribunal’s unconditional approval of a merger.

The companies will have a joint venture in the target business, Ardour Automotive.

Mahindra & Mahindra is a public company registered in India. The Mahindra Group has interests across various sectors, including automotive. Locally, Mahindra SA sells passenger vehicles, tractors, construction equipment and generator sets. It recently set up a vehicle assembly facility in KZN.

FMC, a public company registered in the US, is an automobile company. In South Africa it is involved in the manufacture, wholesale and retail of vehicles.

Ford SA has dealerships across eSwatini, Namibia, South Africa and Botswana. It exports vehicles to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and imports the Figo and EcoSport brands from India.

Ardour, a newly formed entity incorporated in India for the purpose of the proposed transaction, will house the business of Ford India.

Ardour will operate the target business of Ford India, which involves exporting vehicles, manufactured in India, across the world.

“The commission, which assesses large mergers before referring them to the tribunal for a decision, found that the proposed transaction is unlikely to lessen competition in the relevant market.

“No public interest concerns were raised. The commission recommended that the merger be approved without conditions,” the tribunal said in a statement.

The Competition Commission last week also unconditionally approved the proposed merger of Sunsuper and Macquarie AirFinance and Macquarie Group (Target Group).

Sunsuper is active in the administration of pension benefits and the investment of assets on behalf of about 1.4 million members in Australia.

The Target Group is active in aircraft leasing and has a diverse customer base, leasing aircraft to airlines in more than 40 countries.