The Competition Commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve Harith Aviation's proposed acquisition of Safair Holdings, the parent company of FlySafair, subject to conditions designed to address competition concerns.
Harith Aviation is jointly controlled by the Pan-African Infrastructure Development Fund 2 SA (PAIDF 2) and Harith Infraco. Through its controlling entities, the acquiring group specialises in infrastructure fund management across sectors including transport, energy, telecommunications, water and sanitation, and healthcare.
Safair Holdings owns Safair Operations, which operates the FlySafair passenger airline business, providing scheduled domestic and regional passenger services.
Conditions address competition concerns
The Commission recommended that the merger be approved subject to two conditions aimed at addressing competition concerns identified during its investigation.
The first relates to the exchange of commercially sensitive information between the merging parties.
The second requires airline-related or airport-related goods and services provided to other airlines at Lanseria Airport to be supplied on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
The proposed transaction will now be considered by the Competition Tribunal, which will make the final decision on whether to approve the merger.
