SABMiller

Key aspects of South Africa's new public interest guidelines

Key aspects of South Africa's new public interest guidelines

Teboho Bosiu

According to the South African Competition Act, the competition authorities are obliged to consider public interest grounds in merger analysis. The guidelines which were recently finalised by the Competition Commission of South Africa, and gazetted in 2 June 2016, seek to provide guidance on how the Commission will evaluate public interest considerations when evaluating mergers.

Exclusive contracts in Kenya’s beer distribution

Exclusive contracts in Kenya’s beer distribution

Nicholas Nhundu

Efficient distribution is central to competitiveness in the beer industry. In several cases around the world, the proliferation of entrant firms in beer has been obstructed by hurdles in getting products to consumers through the distribution system.

Reflection on the Coca-Cola bottling merger

Reflection on the Coca-Cola bottling merger

Tatenda Zengeni

The merger between Coca-Cola Sabco’s African bottling operations and SABMiller was recently approved by the COMESA Competition Commission, while it is still under review in some other countries such as South Africa. SABMiller is Coca-Cola’s biggest bottler in Africa with operations in 15 African countries.

The black industrialists programme in context: the real barriers to entry

The black industrialists programme in context: the real barriers to entry

Anthea Paelo

South Africa has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world with a Gini coefficient that has remained around 0.65 over the past decade.1 In addition, South Africa’s unemployment rate, using the narrow definition, at 26.4% is very high.2 Much of this has been attributed to the legacy of apartheid during which the majority of South Africans were economically marginalised with few economic opportunities.

The beer industry in Africa: a case of carving out geographic markets?

The beer industry in Africa: a case of carving out geographic markets?

Lauralyn Kaziboni and Reena Das Nair 

Competition investigations on abuse of dominance by near-monopoly beer producers have typically been limited to national boundaries and within the jurisdiction of single national competition authorities. However, it is increasingly recognised that viewing transgressions as neatly falling within political borders is restrictive, and often misses the ‘bigger picture’ of the firm’s overall strategy and conduct.