Johannesburg - The Competition Tribunal has granted Caxton and CTP Publishers and Printers [JSE:CAT] the right to intervene in merger proceedings between Media24, Paarl Coldset and Natal Witness.
The tribunal said on Wednesday it would limit Caxton's intervention to submissions on the likely competition effects of the merger.
These included whether the merger would lead to the foreclosure of firms, predatory pricing and product bundling in the newspaper publishing market.
The merger hearing is set to take place from November 7 to 11, 2011.
The Competition Commission in July conditionally approved the bid by Media24 and Paarl Coldset to acquire Natal Witness.
On Tuesday, Caxton argued during its application to the tribunal to intervene that the acquiring parties had not disclosed all interests to the Competition Commission, Business Day reported.
In turn, Naspers [JSE:NPN] contended Caxton was trying to delay the merger and being a competitor was not sufficient reason to intervene.
Caxton said the deal was likely to lead to substantial anticompetitive effects and public interest concerns, some of which the commission identified when assessing the merger.