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In July, The Competition Tribunal granted Caxton leave to participate in the merger hearing and the pre-hearing procedures concerning Naspers' (NPN) acquisition of Electronic Media Network (EMN, also known as M-Net) and Supersport International Holdings, subject to certain conditions.
On May 29 2007, the Commission referred the merger between Naspers, Electronic Media Network and Supersport International Holdings to the Tribunal recommending that it approve the deal without conditions. The transaction will result in Naspers acquiring all of the issued share capital in M-Net and Supersport.
Business Day reported that Caxton said that the merger, which involved Naspers buying 38% of M-Net/SuperSport from Johncom for about R2.6bn, would give rise to competition benefits to Naspers' print interests.
According to the newspaper, Caxton said "Naspers would be able to bundle print and television advertising so as to lower print advertising below cost", adding that by giving Naspers overall control of M-Net, it would be able to limit other print companies from being able to advertise on M-Net.
In the article, Caxton added that "Naspers would use its increased stake in M-Net to cross-subsidise its print operations to the detriment of print rivals" and would also be able to increase cross-promotions between print and television interests.
Caxton applied to the Tribunal to be considered as a participant in the merger proceedings because it believes it is in a position to assist the Tribunal in evaluating both the submissions of the Commission and those of the merging parties on the effect of the merger on competition.
- I-Net Bridge
