The Competition Commission of South Africa (CCSA) held its ordinary meeting on Tuesday 15 February 2022, to review and take decisions on matters brought before the Commission by members of the public and corporate applicants, in terms of the Competition Act (89 of 1998) as amended. These matters include, but are not limited to complaints, mergers and acquisitions.
1. The South African Competition Commission has unconditionally approved the proposed merger whereby Crossfin Holdings intends to acquire Crossfin Apis.
Through its various subsidiaries, the Acquiring Group is active in the financial technology solutions ("Fintech") sector. It provides:
- payment services;
- payment devices;
- mobile point of sale("POS") solutions;
- value-added services;
- sale and leasing of POS hardware and software;
- e-commerce payment gateway services.
Crossfin Apis does not control any firm and only holds a non-controlling interest in Retail CapitalLimited ("Retail Capital"). Crossfin Apis is an investment holding company investing in businesses in the financial services sector, with its only interest being the non-controlling interest in Retail Capital.
Retail Capital, albeit not controlled by Crossfin Apis, is a provider of alternative funding to the SME market through unsecured lending wherein the customers do not require collateral or security to secure funding; repayments are linked to cash flow as well as revenue of the said SME. Retail capital has systems that have capabilities to assess and consider data from various providers of POS devices, including the Acquiring Group and its competitors such as Payfast and Yoco (via the POS devices) to assess creditworthiness (credit vet) and revert with pre-approved lines of funding where the data supports such funding for merchants. Through these systems, suppliers of POS devices are able to receive anonymised data to credit vet and revert with pre-approved lines of funding where the data supports it.
The Commission found that the proposed transaction is unlikely to prevent or lessen competition in any relevant markets substantially. The Commission further found that the proposed transaction does not raise any public interest concerns.
2. The South African Competition Commission has unconditionally approved the proposed merger whereby Triley intends to acquire Clinigen.
Triley is a special purpose vehicle established for the purposes of this current transaction. Through Pharmanovia, a United Kingdom-based pharmaceutical company, Triley specializes in the late-stage development, co-development, licensing, and acquisition of branded subscription medicines. Pharmanovia also produces and supplies pharmaceutical products through its distributor.
Clinigen Group, through its various subsidiaries, distributes pharmaceutical products in South Africa.
The Commission found that the proposed transaction is unlikely to prevent or lessen competition in any relevant markets substantially. The Commission further found that the proposed transaction does not raise any public interest concerns.
3. The South African Competition Commission has unconditionally approved the proposed merger whereby DSM intends to acquire Biomin.
The DSM Group is a global producer, developer, and supplier of vitamins, carotenoids, Omega- 3 & 6 nutritional lipids, nutraceutical ingredients, and nutritional premixes to the dietary supplement, food, and pharmaceutical industries.
In South Africa, the DSM Group comprises two divisions – one to support Animal Nutrition and another to support Human Nutrition. Of relevance to the proposed transaction is the Animal Nutrition division, which supplies vitamins, carotenoids, eubiotics, and feed enzymes to the animal feed industry. DSM South Africa also provides nutritional animal premixes.
Source: Compcom.co.za
