Johannesburg - South Africa is not against foreign investment, Business Day reported on Tuesday, amid worries that its intervention in takeover hearings involving Walmart and Kansai Paint could put off investors.
Walmart is in the last stages of taking control of local retailer Massmart Holdings
[JSE:MSM] for $2.3bn, a deal the government said would open floodgates to imports that would undermine domestic manufacturers.
Japan's Kansai Paint, which is in the middle of a $260m takeover of Freeworld Coatings
[JSE:FWD], is also facing government opposition.
Business Day newspaper said the trade and industry department is worried that Kansai is taking over a unique South African technology that adds a local component in auto manufacturing.
"It's important to stress that the department is motivated by these considerations and this intervention should not be construed as opposition to foreign direct investment,"
Lionel October, the department's acting director general was quoted as saying.
No one in the department could immediately comment.