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The Competition Commission has, following a commission meeting on Tuesday, recommended to the Competition Tribunal that the merger between information technology services group Dimension Data (DiData) and the three divisions of Internet service provider MWEB be approved, with conditions.
In terms of the proposed transaction, DiData intended to acquire three divisions of MWEB: the MWEB Business/voice over Internet protocol division, the Optinet network division and the Optinet services division.
The commission further imposed a condition that no more than 35 employees of the merged entity should be retrenched as a result of the proposed transaction.
DiData’s merger with Main Street, which was active in the wholesaling of WiFi and mobile 3G connectivity solutions, was also approved, without conditions.
The commission, meanwhile, also resolved at the meeting to recommend to the tribunal that the acquisition of 217 leases, including the business of furniture group Wetherlys from furniture retail unit Ellerines, by retail group Shoprite be approved, with conditions.
The proposed transaction came as a result of business rescue proceedings involving Ellerines and various subsidiaries in its group, which suffered severe financial losses.
“To ensure that the 308 employees of Ellerines are not retrenched, the commission imposed a condition that there should be no retrenchment of the remaining 308 employees post-merger,” it said in a statement.
The commission also approved, without conditions, the merger through which pharmaceutical products producer Teva and Cipla subsidiary Medpro intended to establish an unincorporated joint venture through which Medpro would acquire joint control over a range of pharmaceutical products currently owned by Teva as well as products in development.
Teva would acquire joint control over the oncology products as well as products in development and other marketing and distribution functions currently owned or performed by Medpro.