Tribunal approves merger whereby Isuzu acquires UD Trucks
The Tribunal has unconditionally approved the proposed transaction whereby Isuzu Motors Limited (“Isuzu”) will acquire UD Trucks Corporation (Japan) (“UD Trucks”). The transaction does not raise any competition or public interest concerns.
Isuzu is a public company and UD Trucks is a private company, both incorporated under the laws of Japan.
In South Africa, Isuzu operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Isuzu Motors South Africa (Pty) Ltd. Isuzu is headquartered in Japan, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and sells its vehicles and engines worldwide. It manufactures the following: heavy, medium and light-duty commercial vehicles; buses; commercial vehicle engines; and industrial-use diesel engines.
UD Trucks is involved in the manufacturing and sale of commercial vehicles, buses, bus chassis and special-purpose vehicles. The UD Trucks business in South Africa is currently operated by UD Trucks South Africa (the “UD Division”), a division of Volvo Group Southern Africa Proprietary Limited (“Volvo Group SA”). Volvo Group SA is a subsidiary of AB Volvo – a Swedish, public company and the holder of all UD Trucks’ issued share capital.
UD Trucks SA was established in anticipation of the proposed transaction and the UD Division is to be transferred to UD Trucks SA as part of the proposed transaction. Post-merger, Isuzu will acquire UD Trucks SA which will in turn operate the UD Trucks business in South Africa which comprises a heavy- and medium-duty commercial vehicle assembly plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria. The UD Division mainly supplies commercial vehicles to independent third-party dealerships, directly to businesses (for their transport fleets) and participates in some government tenders.
The Commission’s investigation looked into the businesses of the merger parties and found that, in the segmented markets in which the merger parties operate, they are not close competitors, leading to the conclusion that the proposed transaction will not result in anti-competitive, unilateral effects on the relevant markets.
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