Africa-Press – Eswatini. A newly-established entity, Simbisa Brands Eswatini (Pty) Ltd, has acquired the entire issued share capital held by Chowtown (Pty) Ltd, which operated Galitos, Chicken Inn and Pizza Inn food services in Eswatini.
Simbisa Brands Eswatini’s object is to inter alia; carry on the business of a chain of fast foods and cafes and aims to provide ready-made food, continental food and food of different varieties to customers locally. Simbisa Brands is wholly owned by Simbisa Retail Africa Limited Mauritius (Simbisa Retail) which is involved in franchised fast-food retailing in Africa in countries such as Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Prior, Simbisa Retail had no economic presence in Eswatini.
Firms
This is one of the acquisitions approved by the Eswatini Competition Commission (ESCC) during the third quarter of 2023/24. The ESCC Secretariat considered the products of the merging firms and concluded that there were two relevant markets being:-
* The provision of franchised fast-food services in the Manzini-Mbabane corridor and
* The provision of franchised fast-food services in Nhlangano.
In its analysis, the commission considered the activities of the merging parties and found that there were no product overlaps in both relevant markets. Simbisa Brands is a newly established company for the purposes of the proposed transaction. Chowtown operates Galitos, Chicken Inn and Pizza Inn food services in Manzini, Matsapha, Ezulwini, Mbabane and Nhlangano. Post-merger, the market shares in the relevant market and market concentration will not be altered such that the structure of the market will remain unchanged. Countervailing power and barriers to entry will not be affected hence the transaction is unlikely to result in the substantial lessening or prevention of competition. Therefore, the transaction was approved without conditions. The competition commission also approved the acquisition by Shiloh Estate (Pty) Ltd (Shiloh State) of the entire issued share capital in GSM (Pty) Ltd (GSM) and Tyrone Timbers (Swaziland) (Pty) Ltd (Tyrone Timbers).
Terms
The acquiring firm Shiloh Estate is a newly established company for the purposes of the transaction. Shiloh Estate is incorporated and registered in terms of the company laws of Eswatini. The target firms GSM and Tyrone Timbers are property holding companies that are incorporated and registered in terms of the company laws of Eswatini.
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