| Thu 14 Oct 2010, 9:46 | | THEE - Competition Tribunal - Tribunal places moratorium on job losses |
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JSE
THEE
THEE - Competition Tribunal - Tribunal places moratorium on job losses
Competition Tribunal
Tribunal places moratorium on job losses
The Competition Tribunal today approved the proposed merger between
Metropolitan Holdings Ltd and Momentum Group Ltd on condition that the merged
entity, MMI Holdings, must ensure that there are no retrenchments in South
Africa, resulting from the merger, for 2 years after the merger implementation
date. This condition however does not apply to senior management. The merging
parties must also advise their employees of this condition.
This decision follows a hearing before the Tribunal in which the merging
parties proposed to limit the number of merger related job losses to 1 000 in
the first 3 years after implementing the merger. The merging parties also
offered to provide support, such as core skills training to affected unskilled
and semi-skilled employees, outplacement support and counselling, and to use
their best endeavours to redeploy affected employees within the merged entity.
The Competition Commission accepted the merging parties` undertakings, which
improved on the merging parties` original undertakings, and recommended to the
Tribunal that the merger be approved subject to the implementation of these
support measures.
NEHAWU however, which represents about 6% of Momentum`s employees, argued that
the merging parties had failed to properly justify the need for any job losses
and had not substantiated how they arrived at the 1 000 retrenchments figure.
In the circumstances, NEHAWU asked the Tribunal to prohibit the merger or to
approve it without any job losses.
The Tribunal handed down its finding in the merger earlier today and will
provide written reasons for its decision at a later stage.
Issued By:
Nandi Mokoena
PR Consultant: Competition Tribunal
Cell: +27 (0) 82 399 1328
E-mail: NandisileM@live.co.za
On Behalf Of:
Lerato Motaung
Registrar: Competition Tribunal
Tel: (012) 394 3355
Cell: +27 (0) 82 556 3221
E-Mail: LeratoM@comptrib.co.za
Date: 14/10/2010 09:46:46 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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