Africa-Press – Namibia. The Namibian Competition Commission (the Commission), Johannes !Gawaxab, the governor of the Bank of Namibia, Ismael Gei-Khoibeb, and Gamma Investments CC (Gamma), entered into a settlement agreement following the Commission’s investigation, which found that the parties contravened Chapter 4 of the Competition Act No. 2 of 2003 (the Act) by implementing a merger without the approval of the Commission.
To that end, the parties admitted to the Commission that, on 10 June 2020, !Gawaxab sold his membership interest in Gamma to Gei-Khoibeb, contravening the Act. The parties also admitted the transaction amounted to a merger in contravention of the Act, without prior approval from the Commission.
Dina //Gowases, the NaCC’s spokesperson, explained that the Commission’s investigation specifically found that the parties contravened section 44 read with sections 51 and 53 of the Competition Act.
“In particular, the transaction amounted to a merger as defined and regulated in the Competition Act, as it resulted in Mr. Gei-Khoibeb acquiring the majority of the membership interest in Gamma, as contemplated in terms of section 42(3)(f) of the Competition Act. The merger falls within the prescribed notification thresholds, and the parties failed to notify the Commission, as required by Section 44 of the Act. As a result, the parties agree to settle this matter and entered into a settlement agreement with the Commission, wherein they would pay a pecuniary penalty in the amount of N$1,000,000.00 and implement a compliance programme on Competition law in Namibia,” //Gowases said.
She added that, to that end, the settlement agreement entered into between the parties and the Commission was made an order of the Court in the High Court on 30 April 2024.
“Merger regulation establishes a system of preventive control against increases in market power. This helps to predict the economic effects and proactively regulate the structure of the economy to ensure that markets operate optimally. The focus is on the protection of competition so that a merger does not result in firms attaining market power which can potentially be abused through anti-competitive conduct such as charging higher prices, changing service levels, and changing product quality, among others. Thus, all merger transactions meeting merger thresholds are required to be notified for assessment of possible market effects and clearance by the Namibian Competition Commission. This has the benefit of protecting consumers from potential abuses that can result from market dominance. Specifically, the merger assessments aim to ensure that merging firms will not have the ability to raise prices, reduce quantity and/or quality, and reduce the range of customer service post-merger,” //Gowases said.
She concluded that the Commission wishes to encourage concerned stakeholders to ensure that they remain in compliance with the Competition Act, specifically Chapter 4. “Where stakeholders are not sure whether the transactions they wish to pursue are notifiable or not, the Commission encourages such stakeholders to approach the Commission and seek an advisory opinion before proceeding,” //Gowases said.
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