The Competition Tribunal is set to hear this morning whether Bytes Technology Group should be allowed to buy out all of Unisys Africa.
The Competition Commission has recommended that the merger go ahead without conditions, as it is not likely to raise competition concerns.
Bytes, wholly owned by Altron, said in January it would purchase a 100% stake from Unisys and CyberKnowledge Systems Investments, a local empowerment company, for an undisclosed sum. As part of the deal, Unisys and Bytes will enter into a five-year distributor agreement.
No concerns
The commission says there is a horizontal overlap between Bytes and Unisys in the systems integration services; cheque processing; maintenance, support and upgrade services; and managed services areas.
A vertical overlap also exists where Bytes SA provides licences and maintenance services to Unisys Africa, says the commission. However, its investigation showed that, post merger, these overlaps do not pose a competitive threat.
Bytes provides products, technical skills and services to support enterprise-wide IT infrastructure and supplies customers in the retail and financial services sectors.
Unisys Africa provides IT services and technology offerings to customers in sub-Saharan Africa with a core South African client base in both the public and private sectors. It operates in the telecommunications, energy, financial and other commercial industries, and within government agencies.
Bytes CEO Rob Abraham has said that Unisys Africa is a good fit with the group and its offerings will be complementary. “The acquisition will provide the possibility for synergies and economies of scale for Unisys Africa's operations within the greater Bytes group.”
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