Nashua Mobile transactions receive unconditional approval

On 29 September 2014, the South African Competition Tribunal approved a number of transactions involving Nashua Mobile.  The relevant portions of Nashua Mobile’s subscriber base will be acquired by rival mobile retail operations Vodacom and MTN, while Altech Autopage will acquire Nashua Mobile’s Cell-C subscriber base.  In April 2014, Nashua Mobile’s parent company, Reunert, had announced its strategic decision to sell off its nearly one million, predominantly post-paid, subscribers for a maximum amount of ZAR 3.17 billion.  The Tribunal accepted that each transaction was unlikely to result in any significant harm to competition, and ultimately cleared the transactions unconditionally, although Nashua Mobile had provided an undertaking to protect employment.  RBB worked alongside Norton Rose Fulbright, legal advisers to Nashua Mobile.