South Africa Competition Commission: Commission approves Holcim / Lafarge merger with conditions Mittwoch, 08. Oktober 2014 - 19:49
The Competition Commission has on 1 October 2014, approved an intermediate merger between Holcim Limited ("Holcim") and Lafarge SA ("Lafarge") with conditions aimed at preventing Holcim having joint shareholding in Lafarge and Afrisaman.
This transaction is an international merger which was notified in various jurisdictions globally. Holcim and Lafarge are cement producers operating internationally, although Holcim exited the South African market a few years ago save for a stake it held in Afrisam (Pty) Ltd ("Afrisam"). Effectively, up until this transaction, it is only Lafarge that operated in South Africa. The Commission found that Holcim's shareholding interest in Afrisam, a cement producer in South Africa, would present anti-competitive effects post-merger. This is due to the fact that the shareholding creates an undesirable structural link between Holcim and Afrisam in that it provides Holcim with access to Afrisam's commercially sensitive information.
The Commission's investigation established that absent this shareholding, Holcim would not have access to this commercially sensitive information.