Commission rules on proposed Italtile merger

Johannesburg - The Competition Commission ruled on Thursday on the proposed merger between Italtile [JSE:ITE] and Ceramic Industries.

In terms of Italtile's proposed merger with Ceramic, the Commission ruled on July 26 2016 that the transaction has been prohibited. The Boards of Italtile and Rallen (as the majority shareholder of Italtile and Ceramic) are strongly opposed to this ruling, as they believe that the Commission's decision was based, inter alia, on incorrect information and an incorrect adjudication of control and consequently its findings are incorrect.

In terms of Section 16(1)(a) of the Competition Act, if the Competition Commission prohibits an intermediate merger, any party to the merger may request the Competition Tribunal to consider the prohibited merger, by written notice and in the prescribed form.

Accordingly, Italtile will be preparing and filing a Request for Consideration with the Competition Tribunal. In the conviction that this matter will be reviewed and resolved appropriately, and since approval by the Competition authorities is only one of several conditions precedent, the acquisition process and timetable as communicated to date will continue as scheduled.

Shareholders will be apprised of progress in this regard in due course.