THE Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) approved six company mergers and acquisitions in the fourth quarter of 2017.

In a notice, the commission announced the acquisition of Plaza Bakery’s assets by Investors in Africa-Takura Ventures. Mancosa (Private) Limited and Regent Business School (Private) Limited have been acquired by Main Street 1514 Proprietary Limited while Samrec Vermiculite was snapped by Pakuru Industrial Minerals Africa.

Vilmorin Singapore has acquired 49 percent shareholding in Niculata Investments Limited while 80.9 percent of shares in Nicoz Diamond Insurance were acquired by First Mutual Holdings. Crabtree Electrical Accessories was acquired by K2017136283 South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, a newly established firm wholly owned by Siemens Proprietary Limited that provides engineering products, systems and solutions across the electrification, automation and digitalisation value chain.

CTC indicated that two of the six transactions approved during the period under review were classified as horizontal mergers in nature while three were conglomerate mergers and one vertical merger.

“The transaction involving the acquisition of Plaza Bakery by Investors in Africa-Takura Ventures was classified as a horizontal merger,” said the Commission.

The acquirer (Takura Capital) is an investment holding company with interests in Lobels Holdings, a company involved in the business of producing and selling bread and confectionary.

“The target party (Plaza Bakery) manufactured bread and other confectionary products in the Midlands Province,” said the Commission.

The other horizontal merger approved during the period under review involved Nicoz Diamond and First Mutual. Transactions involving Crabtree Electrical Accessories, Mancosa, and Samrec were conglomerate in nature. CTC said the acquisition of 49 percent shareholding in Niculata Investments Limited by Vilmorin Singapore was vertical in nature. Vilmorin is a producer of vegetable seeds and controls 30 percent shareholding in SeedCo while Niculata Investments’ primary business is the production and distribution of vegetable seed and small grain.

The CTC did not indicate how much all the six transactions were worth. Since 2009, the country’s economy has been experiencing a number of mergers and acquisitions as firms seek to consolidate their balance sheets to survive the prevailing economic condition.

-Chronicle