COMPETITION TRIBUNAL
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Case No: 48/LM/Apr00
In the large merger between:
Aerospatiale Matra SA
and
Daimlerchrysler Aerospace AG
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Reasons for the Competition Tribunal’s decision
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Approval
1. The Competition Tribunal issued a Merger Clearance Certificate on 18 May 2000
approving without conditions the merger between Aerospatiale Matra SA and
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG. The reasons for our decision to approve the
merger are set out below.
The Merger Transaction
2. The primary acquiring and target firms in this merger are two European
companies, Aerospatiale Matra SA (“Aerospatiale”), a company incorporated in
France, and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (“DaimlerChrysler”), a company
incorporated in Germany.
3. In brief, the merging firms are merging their space, aeronautical and defence
businesses into a jointly held company still to be incorporated, which will be
named European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company.
4. The merging firms advised us at the hearing of this matter that the transaction had
already been approved in Europe, Canada, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey. The
only other outstanding decision at that stage was that of the Mexican competition
authorities.
Evaluating the Merger
The effect on competition
5. Although the ‘product/service overlap’ between Aerospatiale and
DaimlerChrysler is somewhat wider, according to the information submitted to us,
only two of the products that overlap are relevant to the South African market:
civil and military helicopters on the one hand and commercial aircraft on the
other. Prior to the merger, Aerospatiale and DaimlerChrysler sold these products
in South Africa through two jointly owned companies, Eurocopter Southern
Africa (Pty) Ltd and Airbus Industries GIE. Aerospatiale owned 70% of the
shares in Eurocopter Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd and DaimlerChrysler owned the
remaining 30%. The two companies each owned 37,9% of the shares in Airbus
Industries GIE. Since this arrangement meant that the parties were not competing
in South Africa prior to the merger, the merger itself does not affect the market
shares of the merging firms in South Africa.
6. We therefore conclude that the merger is unlikely to prevent or lessen competition
in the markets identified above.
Public Interest
7. The merger does not raise any of the public interest concerns enumerated in
section 26(3).
_____________ 15 June 2000
N.M Manoim Date
Concurring: C. Qunta and U. Bhoola
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