The Competition Tribunal has unconditionally approved the proposed merger in which Commercial Cold Holdings (Pty) Ltd (“CCH”) intends to acquire the following firms through its subsidiary, CCH Coega (Pty) Ltd (“CCH Coega”):
- a stake in the business of Port Elizabeth Cold Storage (Pty) Ltd (“PECS”);
- shareholding in Port Elizabeth Cold Storage Container Terminal (Pty) Ltd (”PECS CT”) from PE Cold Storage (Pty) Ltd; and
- a commercial property owned by Eagle Creek Investments 319 (Pty) Ltd (“Coega property”).
The acquiring group (CCH Coega, all the firms controlling it and all the firms controlled by those firms) provides cold storage services in facilities located in various provinces. The Greenbushes cold storage facility in Gqeberha, which provides both chilled and frozen storage services, is of relevance to the proposed merger.
PECS is a cold storage facility business located in the Coega Industrial Development Zone, in Gqeberha. It provides chilled and ambient cold storage facilities. PECS CT is a complementary service to PECS and provides container handling and transportation to export customers. It provides storage for cold storage containers at the Gqeberha port. The Coega property, situated within the Coega Special Economic Zone, is where PECS conducts its operations.