Johannesburg - The Competition Commission of South Africa has approved a merger deal between local e-tailers Kalahari.com and takealot.com on certain conditions.
In October 2014, Kalahari.com and takealot.com announced that they are merging their operations subject to regulatory approval.
The two companies said the reasons for merging include scaling up their operations.
And on Monday, the competition commission approved the deal.
“It’s an approval subject to conditions to address employment concerns,” Hardin Ratshisusu, the acting deputy commissioner for the competition commission, told Fin24.
Ratshisusu said the conditions include that “potential job losses should not exceed 200” with regard to the Kalahari-takealot merger.
E-tailer takealot.com was officially launched in June 2011 after the acquisition of an existing e-commerce business called 'Take2' by the US-based investment firm Tiger Global Management and Kim Reid in October 2010.
Last year, takealot.com also raised over $100m (over R1bn) in funding from Investment firm Tiger Global Management
Meanwhile,Kalahari.com was established in 1998 and is one of SA’s largest online retailers, selling millions of books, e-books, e-readers, music, DVDs, games, cameras and electronics.
- kalahari.com is a part of Naspers, the owner of Media24, Fin24's parent company.