Conditional approval for SAA Takatso merger from CompCom
The Competition Commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the proposed merger between Takatso Aviation and South African Airways on condition.
This follows the Commission’s investigation into Takatso’s intention to acquire 51% of the national carrier from the government.
“The Competition Commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the proposed merger between Takatso Aviation Proprietary Limited and South African Airways State-Owned Company Limited with divestiture and employment conditions. If the merger is approved by the Tribunal, the remaining 49% shareholding in SAA will be retained by the DPE,” the commission’s spokesperson Siyabulela Makunga said on Friday.
The deal was announced by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan in July 2021, but has been plagued by numerous delays.
“The merger will likely facilitate the exchange of competitively sensitive information between SAA and Lift, through Global Aviation and Syranix having shareholding and the ability to appoint directors to Takato’s board of directors,” Makunga said.
“Takatso will have access to SAA’s competitively sensitive information by virtue of its majority stake in SAA, pursuant to the proposed merger. This concern is further exacerbated by the fact that the domestic passenger airlines market is highly concentrated, barriers to entry are high and is amendable to coordinated effects.”
But the commission doesn’t believe the merger raises any other substantial public interest concerns.
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