| Thu 25 Nov 2010, 12:37 | | THEE - The Competition Commission - Notice of Upcoming Competition Tribunal |
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JSE
THEE
THEE - The Competition Commission - Notice of Upcoming Competition Tribunal
Hearings
NOTICE OF UPCOMING COMPETITION TRIBUNAL HEARINGS
(Following is a guideline for journalists. The information can be used but
please do not quote Nandi Mokoena or the Tribunal)
CASE(S) Variation application in Metropolitan / Momentum
merger
DATE Friday, 26 November 2010
TIME 14H00
PLACE The dti Campus
77 Meintjies Street
Mulayo Building, (Block C)
Sunnyside, Pretoria
Tel: +27 (0) 12 394 3300
Fax: +27 (0) 12 394 0169
Website: http://www.comptrib.co.za
Merging parties seek variation of Tribunal`s order
On Friday, 26 November, Metropolitan and Momentum will ask the Tribunal to vary
the order it handed down on 13 October 2010 in respect of the Metropolitan /
Momentum merger. According to the merging parties, the terms "retrenchments" and
"senior management", which appear in the order, are ambiguous. NEHAWU, which
represents about 6% of Momentum`s employees, is opposing the merging parties`
application.
The Tribunal will hear this application at 14H00 on Friday.
Background
On 13 October the Tribunal approved the proposed merger between Metropolitan
Holdings Ltd and Momentum Group Ltd on condition that the merged entity, MMI
Holdings, had to ensure that there would be no retrenchments in South Africa,
resulting from the merger, for 2 years after the merger implementation date.
This condition however did not apply to senior management. The merging parties
were also directed to advise their employees of this condition.
This decision followed 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.
After hearing all parties, the Tribunal approved the merger subject to the
condition mentioned above. The Tribunal is still to issue reasons for this
decision.
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: 25/11/2010 12:37:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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