The Competition Tribunal has approved the disposal of Altech Autopage's subscriber bases, with conditions.
The tribunal ruled the post-paid GSM subscriber bases could be sold to telecoms operators Cell C, MTN and Vodacom as planned ? but outlined a number of conditions pertaining to the employees affected by the disposal.
"Altron's decision to dispose of these subscriber bases has been based on, among others, the impact of the ongoing mobile termination rate reductions, in addition to continued industry and consumer deflationary pressures," parent company Altron said in a statement.
In December last year, the Competition Commission recommended the tribunal approve the R1.5 billion deal without conditions. However, the tribunal decided to send the merger back to the commission for further investigation after a last minute objection by VOIP provider Saicom Voice Services, pertaining particularly to the MTN and Vodacom purchase.
The tribunal's conditions of the three sales mostly relate to Autopage's current employees and their future prospects. As per the tribunal conditions, Altron will make offers of redeployment to 86 Autopage employees after their employment termination dates come up. This includes future redeployment opportunities for 56 employees who have already been redeployed to the Altron Group.
In terms of the conditions pertaining directly to the telecoms operators, MTN, Cell C and Vodacom must also aid in helping affected employees post-merge. As per the conditions, the telcos must for a period of 12 months after the date of transfer of the Altech Autopage subscriber bases make previous employees aware of any vacancies to be filled in their companies and consider them for jobs.
The tribunal's conditions also stipulate that in the event two equally qualified and skilled individuals apply for a position, Vodacom and MTN will give preference to affected Altech Autopage employees. In terms of Cell C, first preference will be given to "any employee retrenched from Cell C from 30 November 2015 onwards".
Similarly, for a year after the implementation date, Altron must also make Autopage employees aware of and consider them for any external vacancies that are to be filled within the Altron Group.
Altech Autopage will also continue to make its training initiatives available to employees until the final implementation date of the merge. All current employees have access to an employee assistance programme (EAP) for themselves and their families, and the EAP will also be available to them for three months after the merge's implementation date.
It is still unclear when exactly the implementation date will be.
"Shareholders will be advised in due course by Altron when the last of the outstanding conditions precedent pertaining to the Altech Autopage disposal have been fulfilled or waived, as the case may be," according to Altron.
In September 2015, JSE-listed Altron confirmed it would sell the Autopage subscriber base to MTN, Vodacom and Cell C for approximately R1 467 million plus VAT. In early December, Alton also confirmed that 99.99% of shareholders voted for the disposal of Autopage's subscribers at the company's annual general meeting.
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