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Altech achieves clearance of its acquistion of NamITech in South Africa

The South African Competition Tribunal has cleared the sale of NamITech to Altech, both active in the manufacture of secure magnetic stripe cards for sale to South Africa's banks. This gives Altech access to NamITech's expertise and production facilities for "smart" banking cards, and SIM cards for mobile telephony. We assisted the parties with their written submissions to the Competition Commission and Competition Tribunal, in particular relating to the impact of the transaction on the future of competition in the smart bank card market, and the role of the personalisation business in determining competitive outcomes. Diana Jackson presented our analysis of these issues orally at the week-long Tribunal hearing held in Pretoria in January. The clearance was given subject only to the remedies already offered to the Competition Commission, and in particular allowed Altech to retain its Africard personalisation business.

For more information see Competition Tribunal Decision

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