Japanese car shipping firm faces R99 million penalty for global carrier cartel
Earlier today the Competition Commission and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K-Line), a Japanese car shipping company, asked the Competition Tribunal to confirm their settlement agreement as an order of the Tribunal.
The settlement comes after the Commission initiated an investigation, in 2012, against K-Line and other car shipping firms for collusive tendering, dividing markets and price fixing. The investigation resulted in the Commission referring 15 instances of collusion, against K-Line, to the Tribunal for adjudication. These instances included collusion on tenders put out by Toyota, BMW, Honda and Nissan between 2006 and 2011.
In the settlement agreement, K-line admits to eight instances of price fixing, dividing markets and tendering collusively on tenders issued by various car manufactures for the transportation of cars into and from South Africa. K-Line also agrees to pay an administrative penalty of R98 928 170.05 for its role in the collusion. The Tribunal previously confirmed a settlement between the Commission and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics AS (WWL) for its part in the same cartel. WWL agreed to a penalty of R95 695 529.00.
The Tribunal confirmed the settlement after hearing the parties.
Industrial property merger comes before the Tribunal
The Competition Commission (“Commission”) recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the proposed merger between Grindrod Property Private Equity (Pty) Ltd (GPPE) and Dunrose Investments 82 (Pty) Ltd (Dunrose) without conditions.
GPPE is ultimately controlled by Grindrod Ltd (Grindrod) and Dunrose is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Griffin Holdings Pty Ltd (Griffin Holdings).
GPPE is a private equity company which invests in properties directly or indirectly through property owning companies. The Griffin Group, on the other hand, is active in the property sector. The Griffin Group has an investment property portfolio comprised of industrial and commercial property. Dunrose only has one property under its investment portfolio which is a light industrial property.
The Commission assessed the above transaction and concluded that it was unlikely to cause a substantial lessening of competition. Accordingly it recommended that the Tribunal approve the deal without conditions. The Tribunal heard this merger earlier today and approved it without conditions.
Vukile looks to acquire Kollonade mall
The Competition Tribunal considered a proposed merger between Vukile Property Fund Limited (Vukile) and Sasol Pension Fund (Sasol PF).
Vukile is a property fund company. Its property portfolio comprises retail, industrial and office space; as well as land under development. Sasol PF is the sole owner of Kollonade mall which is a minor regional shopping centre located in Montana Park, Pretoria.
The Commission assessed the above transaction and concluded that it was unlikely to cause a substantial lessening of competition. Accordingly it recommended that the Tribunal approve the deal without conditions. The Tribunal heard this merger earlier today and approved it without conditions.
Cumulative and Moolgem transaction heard by Tribunal
Earlier today the Competition Tribunal heard the proposed merger between Cumulative Properties Ltd (Cumulative) and Moolgem (Pty) Ltd (Moolgem), both of which control diversified property portfolio’s. Once the transaction is implemented, Cumulative will have complete control over Moolgem.
In order to minimise the potential for anti-competitive information sharing between the group of companies to which the merging firms belong, the Commission and the merging parties agreed to prohibit Moolgem’s controllers from nominating common directors who already serve on competing firms to serve on Moolgem’s board. Accordingly the Commission has recommended that the Tribunal approve the transaction with conditions.
The Tribunal heard the merger today and approved it with conditions.
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