COMPETITION TRIBUNAL
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Case no.: 89/LM/Sep05
In the large merger between:
ApexHi Properties Ltd
and
Sasol Pension Fund
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Reasons
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Introduction
1. On 26 October 2005 the Competition Tribunal approved the merger
between Apexhi Properties Ltd and Sasol Pension Fund. The reasons for
this decision follow.
The transaction
2. The transaction involves the acquisition by ApexHi Properties Ltd
(”ApexHi”) of the Surrey Place Property (“Surrey Place”) from Sasol
Pension Fund (“Sasol”).
3. Surrey place is a rentable office property situated in the Ferndale Node in
Gauteng.
4. ApexHi is a company listed on the JSE Stock Exchange and is a variable
rate property loan stock company. No single firm controls ApexHi and its
largest stakeholders are:
• Redefine Income Fund 10%
• Stanlib 7%
• Marriot Property Fund 13%
Rationale of the transaction
5. The acquisition presents ApexHi with an opportunity to grow its assets and
earnings while Sasol wants to sell the asset because it wishes to improve
the risk profile of its investments made on behalf of its Pension Fund
beneficiaries.
Impact on competition
6. The relevant market is defined as Grade A Offices in the Ferndale Node.
Within this market ApexHi has approximately 2.4% market share, which
will increase to 7.2% post the transaction.
7. The Competition Commission is of the view that no competition concerns
arise from the transaction since the combined market share of the merged
entity in the Ferndale Node would be low. We agree with this conclusion.
Public interest
8. No public interest issues arise from the merger.
____________ 28 November 2005
N Manoim Date
Concurring: D Lewis, Y Carrim
For the merging parties: Ms Varni Chetty of Edward Nathan
2
For the Commission: Geffrey Mudzanani
3