The Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (“ICCC”) announces that it will not oppose the proposed share acquisition and restructure in Digitec ICT Limited (“Digitec”), (the ‘proposed transaction’). The proposed transaction would involve an indirect transfer of 49 per cent shares owned by Austel Investments Pty Ltd (“Austel”) to Vodafone Fii Pte Ltd (“Vodafone Fiji”) who already has 51 per cent shares in Digitec.
Vodafone Fiji proposes to purchase all of Austel’s shares in Digitec through its wholly owned subsidiary, ICT Holdings Limited (“ICT Holdings”).
According to the ICCC Commissioner and CEO, Mr. Paulus Ain, “the ICCC will not intervene in the proposed transaction and restructure in the share ownership of Digitec”.
Commissioner Ain started that “the ICCC, after assessing all the available information, considered that the proposed transaction does not meet any of the mandatory notification thresholds stipulated under section 81 (1) of the ICCC Act”. Mr. Ain said, “the transaction is also not likely to raise any serious competition issues in any relevant markets that Digitec operates in”.
Based on available information and taking into consideration the relevant provisions of the ICCC Act, Commissioner Ain stated that “the ICCC refrains from taking any action to prevent the proposed transaction at this time”.
When announcing this, Commissioner Ain also encouraged businesses in the country to inform and discuss with ICCC on an similar transactions before proceeding any further.