The Competition Tribunal has conditionally approved the proposed merger in which Novus intends to acquire additional shares in ICT distributor Mustek.
The tribunal has approved the proposed merger subject to employment-related public interest conditions.
The latest development comes after the Competition Commission last month recommended that the Competition Tribunal approves, with conditions,
In November, JSE-listed print, publishing and packaging manufacturing business Novus made an offer to buy JSE-listed ICT distributor Mustek.
It told Mustek shareholders that it had acquired the beneficial ownership of ordinary issued shares in Mustek, which resulted in Novus beneficially holding 35% or more of all the issued Mustek shares.
Accordingly, Novus proceeded to make a mandatory offer, as required in terms of section 123 of the Companies Act, to acquire all of the Mustek shares not already beneficially held by Novus, or any of its related and concert parties.
Under the deal, Novus offered a cash consideration of R13 for each Mustek share, a cash amount of R7 plus one ordinary share in Novus for each Mustek share and two Novus shares for each Mustek share tendered by a mandatory offer participant.
Mustek recently suffered a huge decline in revenue for the six months ended 31 December.
According to the distributor, revenue decreased by 14% to R3.66 billion (31 December 2023: R4.27 billion) because of economic constraints, lower consumer demand and being selective in only pursuing deals that align with the firm’s risk appetite and profitability targets.
The group’s two largest segments Mustek and Rectron saw their revenue decline by 9.1% and 26% respectively.
The group’s IT training company, Mecer Inter-Ed experienced a slight decline in revenue to R43.4 million from R46.2 million from tougher market conditions, although the margin achieved was better than the comparative period.
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