Description of Activities

Description: The Commission resolved to approve with conditions the acquisition by S.L Swart Trust of the shares in the Huab Farming Number Two (Proprietary) Limited and Ondundu Etosha Lodge (Proprietary) Limited. 

Acquiring group: The primary acquiring undertaking is S.L. Swart Trust, a Trust registered with the Master of the High Court of Namibia with reference number T44/2021. The Trust is a holding Trust to acquire and hold immovable property, directly or indirectly, and to hold such property for purposes of nature conservation.

Target undertakings: The primary target undertakings are, firstly, Huab Farming Number Two (Proprietary) Limited which owns immovable property, to wit: Farm Olifantsdood No.260, Registration Division “A”, measuring 4183.6366 (Four One Eight Three Comma Six Three Six Six) Hectare and situated at Kamanjab, Namibia. Secondly, the Ondundu Etosha Lodge (Proprietary) Limited, which owns immovable property, to wit: the Remainder of the Farm Huab No.261, Registration Division “A”, measuring 2446,1843 (Two Four Four Six, Comma One Eight Four Three) Hectare and situated at Kamanjab, Namibia. The acquisition includes movable properties on the two farms.

Relevant market: Defined as the market for the ownership of agricultural (commercial) land in Namibia. 

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. However, the transaction does raise public interest concerns. As such, the Commission approved the merger subject to conditions relating to employment and ongoing monitoring of the merged undertaking’s activities. These conditions require the merging parties to report their conservation efforts to the Commission for a period of five years, disclose all future land acquisitions, and submit reports on the support provided to the Huab Conservancy and the local community. 

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.