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South Africa: Commission moves to protect textbook competition

By  |  September 4, 2013

South Africa’s Competition Commission announced it blocked the acquisition of Juta Bookshops by a division of Times Media on grounds the deal would reduce competition within the market of academic textbooks.

Van Schaik Booksellers will not be permitted to acquire Juta, according to reports. Juta promotes itself as the largest local student textbook seller for various academic areas, including law and communications.

While competition law in South Africa designates this deal as a “small merger,” the parties involved voluntarily notified the deal to the Commission for review.

The deal was blocked based on competition concerns. Were the deal to be cleared, Van Schaik would have acquired all 10 of Juta’s bookshops.

Full Content: Business Tech

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