Tribunal confirms agreements between Commission, media firms in price fixing case

The Tribunal has confirmed the agreements between the Commission and four media companies: SABC, Primedia, Ster Kinekor Theatres and Carpe Diem Media. The contents of the separate agreements are summarised below:

According to the settlements, the media companies admit to involvement in price-fixing and the fixing of trading conditions in contravention of the Competition Act.
 
The settlements follow a Commission investigation launched in 2011.  It found that various media companies, through Media Credit Co-Ordinators (MCC), agreed to offer similar discounts and payment terms to accredited and non-accredited advertising agencies that place advertisements with MCC members. Accredited advertising agencies were offered a discount of 16.5% for all payments within a 45-day period from the date of the statement whereas non-accredited advertising agencies were only offered a discount of 15%.
 
The companies, as MCC members, also agreed to employ the services of an intermediary company called Corex to perform risk assessments on advertising agencies for purposes of imposing the above settlement discount structure and terms on advertising agencies.

In this transaction, Pepkor acquires FGI Holdings. The Commission earlier recommended that the proposed merger be approved without conditions.
 
Pepkor controls companies such as Tekkie Town and Pep. Pepkor is ultimately owned by Steinhoff International N.V. Pepkor holdings operates its business in four operational segments which include clothing and general merchandise; furniture, appliances and electronics; building materials; and financial services. Steinhoff operates across several sectors including furniture, general merchandise clothing, consumer electronics, financial services.
 
FGI Holdings controls three firms, one of them being Abacus Insurance Limited. FGI is controlled by Wands Investment (Pty) Ltd. FGI, through its Abacus businesses, provides credit insurance and funeral policies.

This is a simple merger in the financial services sector in terms of which investment holding companies Cream Magenta and Metcap seek to acquire loan claims against Southern View and the unsecure lending books owned by CenCap.

The Commission earlier recommended that the proposed transaction be approved without conditions, as the merger presents no competition or public interest concerns.

 

In this large merger, SM Holdco acquires Smartmatta. The Commission earlier recommended that the transaction be approved without conditions.
 
SM Holdco has no activities as it was established for the proposed transaction. The company is jointly controlled by Corvest 12 (Pty) Ltd and Anthill Mid Cap Fund I (Pty) Ltd. Corvest is ultimately controlled by FirstRand Ltd.
SmartMatta provides on-site waste management solutions, off-site recycling facilities, supply chain and logistics and advisory services to a diversified and blue-chip customer base.