While Mzwanele Manyi believes his acquisition of the Gupta-owned media assets is a done deal, it is still unclear whether the Competition Commission needs to sign off on it, says a Business Day report. Manyi – who bought the Guptas’ Infinity Media and The New Age – said yesterday the deal had been finalised and it was just the technical issues, such as informing the commission, that were outstanding.

‘It’s a change of ownership … Whatever the market share, it remains the same. The complication with mergers and acquisitions is whether it creates a monopoly,’ Manyi said.

According to section 13 of Competition Act, any party to an intermediate or large merger must inform the Competition Commission seven days earlier of the conclusion of the merger agreement, public announcement of it or the acquisition by any one of the parties to that merger, of a controlling interest in another. Section 13(3) says the parties to an intermediate or large merger must not implement that merger until they have received approval from either the Competition Commission, the Competition Tribunal or the Competition Appeal Court.

Manyi said his technical team was working on informing the commission.

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