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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