The Competition Commission must be notified of all intermediate mergers and acquisitions if the value of the proposed merger equals or exceeds R1 billion (calculated by either combining the annual turnover of both firms or their assets), and the annual turnover or asset value of the transferred/target firm is at least R200 million.

If the combined annual turnover or assets of both the acquiring and transferred / target firms are valued at or above R9.5 billion, and the annual turnover or asset value of the transferred / target firm is at least R280 million, the merger must be notified to the Competition Commission as a large merger.

If the proposed transaction does not meet criteria of intermediate or large mergers it will be categorized as ‘small merger.’ Section 13(2) of the Act allows for voluntary notification of small mergers by the parties at any time. Section 13(3) of the Act further determines that the Commission may require the parties to a small merger to notify the merger to the Commission within 6 months after implementation.

Guidelines on Small Merger Notification

The Commission has developed guidelines for the notification of small mergers, to communicate the approach it will follow to the notification of small mergers.

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