On 31 January 2012, the Commission approved the acquisition by the IDC of Eerste Flambeau subject to certain conditions.

On 31 January 2012, the Commission approved the acquisition by the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited (IDC) of Eerste Flambeau Huur (Proprietary) Limited (Eerste Flambeau) subject to certain conditions.

Eerste Flambeau is a holding company which ultimately controls the Colbri Group of companies which is involved in the manufacturing, import, export and distribution of terry towelling. The Commission found the activities of the merging parties overlapped in the market for terry towelling in the Western and Eastern Cape and also found that the transaction involved vertical integration as the Colibri Group companies acquire inputs from an IDC subsidiary.

The Commission's investigations showed that foreclosure was unlikely and therefore sought only to impose conditions to prevent the sharing of information between IDC subsidiaries and the Colibri Group.

Further, when evaluating the anticipated number of job losses which would result from the transaction, the Commission found therefore that the saving of jobs outweighed concerns around job losses and imposed the condition that a maximum of 50 employees could be retrenched as a result of the merger.

Webber Wentzel acted for the merging parties.
Date of approval: 31 January 2012

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