The Competition Tribunal hearing into whether investment company Brimstone should be allowed to increase its stake to 100% of Sea Harvest will form part of the commission's information gathering process.
A Brimstone-led consortium intends to buy the Sea Harvest shares it does not already own from Tiger Brands.
Nandi Mokoena, the commission's manager of strategy and stakeholder relations, on Tuesday, 31 March 2009, said it was investigating the pelagic fishing industry as part of an investigation into the food spending priorities of low-income consumers. Food items that have come under the commission's spotlight include bread, milk, grain and milling products, vegetable fat and oils, poultry, animal feed and pelagic fish.
Pelagic fish swim in the open ocean and species include herring, mackerel, horse mackerel, sardinella, blue whiting, sardine and silversmelt. The fish typically swim together in shoals and often migrate over large distances.
The commission has had a measure of success in the bread, milk and poultry industries, with investigations resulting in several companies such as Tiger Brands and Foodcorp being fined.
Mokoena said the commission had identified the most relevant areas of research last year and was examining each area in detail. This included looking at underlying pricing issues.
She said the proactive investigation came about as a result of concerns raised over cartels.
Mokoena said no complaints had been received about the fish industry. The investigation would be holistic and, should any companies be charged, they should be charged as a group.
The tribunal hearings into whether Brimstone should be allowed to buy all of Sea Harvest from Tiger Brands had raised some interesting points the commission would consider, she said.
Last week, the tribunal approved the sale of Sea Harvest by Tiger Brands to a consortium led by Brimstone. The consortium was buying 73.16% of the company for R541m to take its stake to 100%. Tiger Brands had been seeking to unbundle Sea Harvest for some time.
However, the tribunal raised concerns about Brimstone having an 11% interest in Oceania and having directors on its board. Oceania is mostly a pelagic fish processor and supplier. Sea Harvest has a large share in the hake market, while Oceania has a smaller share.
Tribunal chairman David Lewis said during the hearings last week that the fact that Brimstone had directors on both boards was of concern from a competition point of view.
Lewis said this was redolent with inferences of market sharing, but whether this was the case was something for the commission's investigation to determine.
He advised the merging parties that, when there were cross holding directorships, an agreement did not have to be proven in order for the companies possibly to answer to charges of being involved in a cartel.
By allowing the merger, however, the anticompetitive issues had been improved.
Source: Business Day
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