As published in Government Gazette No. 41124 dated 15 September 2017 (available here), new merger notification thresholds for intermediate mergers compulsorily notifiable to the Competition Commission, as well as new merger filing fees for intermediate and large mergers, will be effective from 1 October 2017.
The new threshold for an intermediate merger will be met where: (i) the acquiring and target firms have combined turnover or assets (whichever combination is higher) of ZAR 600 million or more (currently the merger threshold amount is ZAR 560 million); and (ii) the target firm has turnover or assets (whichever is the higher) of at least ZAR 100 million (currently the merger threshold amount is ZAR 80 million).
The higher thresholds for large mergers (combined threshold of ZAR 6.6 billion and target firm threshold of ZAR 190 million) remain unchanged (for the time being).
New filing fees for intermediate and large mergers will also be effective from 1 October 2017:
- ZAR 150,000.00 for an intermediate merger; and ZAR 500,000.00 for a large merger. In addition, the public are also invited to comment on the proposed amendments (also published in Government Gazette No. 41124) to the Method of Calculation (General Notice 216 of 2009) by 15 October 2017.
- Businesses currently planning mergers in South Africa may have to consider whether these new merger notification thresholds and filing fees will have any effect on the regulatory aspects of their transactions.
We will continue to keep you updated as any further developments arise.
