COMPETITION TRIBUNAL OF SOUTH AFRICA
Case No: 65/LM/Jun07
In the matter between:
The Bidvest Group Ltd Acquiring Firm
And
Viamax (Pty) Ltd Target Firm
Panel : D Lewis (Presiding Member), N Manoim (Tribunal
Member) and Y Carrim (Tribunal Member)
Heard on : 22 August 2007
Order issued on : 22 August 2007
Reasons issued on : 18 September 2007
Reasons for Decision
Approval
1]On 22 August 2007 , the Tribunal approved the merger between Bidvest
Group Ltd and Viamax (Pty) Ltd. The reasons follow below.
The Transaction
2]Bidvest Group Ltd (“Bidvest”) intends to acquire the entire issued share
capital of Viamax (“Pty”) Ltd (“Viamax”), a fleet management service provider
owned by Transnet Limited. 1 Viamax owns two subsidiaries, Viamax Fleet
Solutions (Pty) Ltd and Viamax Fleet Management (Pty) Ltd.
3]Bidvest is a public company listed on the JSE and has several subsidiaries
worldwide. In South Africa Bidvest owns a fleet management company
through McCarthy Fleet Services.
1 A five year exclusive contract with Transnet was included as part of the transaction
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Rationale for the transaction
4]Transnet is currently disposing all the assets which it considers to be non
core to its business activities, including Viamax. Bidvest, as a relative new
entrant, wishes to gain a more competitive foothold in the South African fleet
management services market and the acquisition of Viamax presents it with
such an opportunity. 2
The relevant market and the impact on competition
5]Both parties provide fleet management services to customers. These
services include vehicle financing, vehicle maintenance, administration of
vehicle licences and purchasing and sale of vehicles. The geographic market
is national.
6]97% of Viamax’s fleet management services were provided to Transnet and
the remaining 3% to municipalities. It could therefore be regarded as an in
house service provider of Transnet which did not compete in the open
market. Post the transaction the merged entity, with its market share of 12%,
will compete more effectively with other participants in the market such as
Imperial Fleet Services which has a market share of 20%, Avis Fleet Services
with a market share of 17% and Debis with 20%, to name but a few.
Subsequent to the expiry of the five year exclusive contract Transnet will
again invite participants to tender for this contract.
7]In light of the above we find that the transaction would not substantially
prevent or lessen competition the relevant markets but rather enhance
competition.
CONCLUSION
8]There are no significant public interest issues and we accordingly approve
the transaction.
2 It entered this market during July 2005.
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__________________ 18 September 2007
N Manoim Date
D Lewis and Y Carrim concurring
Tribunal Researcher: R Badenhorst
For the merging parties: Bowman Gilfillan Attorneys
For the Commission: Makgale Mohlala and David Masilela
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