Description of Activities

Description of the transaction: The Commission resolved to approve without conditions the acquisition by Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited of shares in S and R HoldCo (Pty) Limited.

The acquiring group: Is a British retail and sports organization that originally grew from the House of Fraser department store chain and rebranded itself from Sports Direct International to Frasers Group plc in 2019. The acquiring group focuses on three core areas: sports, premium, and luxury, offering a diverse mix of iconic sporting and retail brands.

The primary target undertaking: The target undertaking is a vertically integrated group of companies incorporating retail, manufacturing, distribution, and e-commerce focused on the sport, outdoor, and recreation sectors, with the key components comprising i) Sportsmans Warehouse, ii) Outdoor Warehouse, iii) Shelflife, and iv) Performance Brands. Additionally, Holdsport has two distribution centres in the Western Cape. In Namibia, Holdsport has only two retail stores.

Relevant market: The Secretariat, looking at the type of merger, concludes that it is not necessary to definitively conclude on the relevant product market definition since there are no geographical overlaps or vertical integration between the merging parties’ activities.

Merger Determination

The Commission found the proposed transaction unlikely to result in the prevention or substantial lessening of competition or result in any undertaking to acquire or strengthen a dominant position in the market and did not raise any public interest concerns.

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.