Wal-Mart welcomes Namibian supreme court decision

Massmart and Wal-Mart on Friday, 4 November 2011, welcomed the ruling by the Namibian supreme court, which upheld Wal-Mart's legal challenge to a ministerial notice imposing foreign investment restrictions in Namibia.

This means that implementation of the merger in Namibia remains unaffected and that the conditions imposed on the merged firm by the Namibian Competition Commission must be reviewed by the minister of trade and industry.

Furthermore, any conditions imposed by the minister remain open to challenge by the parties as required.

The Namibian Competition Commission, like the South African government, wants stricter and binding conditions imposed on the merger as opposed to the voluntary commitments that the companies have set themselves.

The transaction in which US giant acquired 51% of Massmart was approved with conditions by the South African Competition Tribunal in June.

Last month, the South African completion appeal court heard a review brought by the three government ministers - Rob Davies, Ebrahim Patel and Tina Joemat-Pettersson as well as an appeal by SACCAWU.