Description of Activities

Description of transaction: The Commission resolved to approve without conditions the acquisition by Digistics Proprietary Limited (“Digistics”) and Wutow Trading Proprietary Limited (“Wutow”) of shares in Digistics Namibia Proprietary Limited (“Digistics Namibia”). 

Acquiring group: The primary acquiring undertakings are Digistics and Wutow. Both acquirers offer supply chain management services for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (“FMCG”) and Quick-Service Restaurant (“QSR”) products. Only Wutow operates in Namibia by providing supply chain management and cross-border transport, as well as fast-moving consumer goods, dairy, non-alcoholic beverages (soft drinks, juices), alcoholic beverages (liquor, beer), tobacco, general merchandise, and over-the-counter (OTC) (unscheduled) medicines (collectively and in general referred to as FMCGs) in Namibia and to the Namibian retail trade on behalf of manufacturers. 

Target undertaking: The primary target undertaking, Digistics Namibia is a shelf company that is currently not operational.

Relevant market: The Secretariat looking at the activities of the merging parties, defined the product market to be the provision of sales, marketing, and distribution of FMCG products on behalf of manufacturers.

Merger Determination

The Commission found the proposed transaction unlikely to result in the prevention or substantial lessening of competition or result in any undertaking acquiring or strengthening a dominant position in the market. However, the proposed merger did raise public interest concerns, especially employment and local beneficiation. Thus, the Secretariat approved the merger with employment and value-addition conditions.

However, as stated under section 50 of the Act, this approval does not relieve parties from complying with any other mandatory statutory approvals that any of the parties to this merger must comply with under Namibian Laws.