Rain, MTN to intervene in Vodacom, Vumatel hearings
The Competition Tribunal has accepted MTN and data provider Rain’s requests to intervene in the hearings on whether to approve the merger between Vodacom and fibre providers Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa.
A BusinessLIVE report notes Dark Fibre Africa and Vumatel have had been folded into a new holding company, Maziv.
Vodacom aims to take a 30% stake in Maziv, worth an estimated R13bn, with the option of raising that to 40%.
The transaction, announced in November 2021, has already received approval from Icasa.
But the deal needs the go-ahead from the tribunal, which will hear Vodacom and Maziv’s request to merge in May 2024.
In October, MTN and Rain applied to join the tribunal hearings and explain the effects of the proposed deal on them.
MTN and Rain are competitors and customers of the merging parties, with Rain also being a supplier.
On Friday, the tribunal agreed to let them intervene and specified the areas where they can give evidence, including saying whether the deal should be approved.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
