On 15 September 2017, the South African Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, published Government Notices no. 1003 and 1005, which announced increases to the intermediate merger thresholds and merger filing fees. These increases will be effective from 1 October 2017.

The amendments in respect of the intermediate merger thresholds include:

• an increase from ZAR560-million to ZAR600-million (7%) for the sum of the acquiring/purchaser group’s turnover or assets (whichever is higher) and the target/transferred firm’s turnover or assets (whichever is higher); and 
• an increase from ZAR80-million to ZAR100-million (25%) for the target/transferred firm’s turnover or assets (whichever is higher). 

There is no increase to the large merger thresholds, which are currently set at ZAR6.6-billion for the sum of the acquiring/purchaser group’s turnover or assets (whichever is higher), and the target/transferred firm’s turnover or assets (whichever is higher); and ZAR190-million for the target/transferred firm’s turnover or assets (whichever is higher).

The amendments in respect of the merger filing fees are that:

• the filing fee for an intermediate merger is to increase from ZAR100 000 to ZAR150 000 (50%); and 
• the filing fee for a large merger is to increase from ZAR350 000 to ZAR500 000 (43%).

For more information, please contact ENSafrica’s anti-trust/competition team.