DCC denies Sahara merger

By Leon Engelbrecht for Sahara

Johannesburg, 18 Jul 2007

Sahara Holdings Group and Drive Control Corporation (DCC) are not in merger talks, says DCC MD Neil Rex.

Reacting to media reports, he says the two companies are exploring ways to collaborate on their channel offerings, "but it is still early days and there are many obstacles to overcome. Among these are warranties."

He adds that Sahara and DCC have complementary channel offerings, and if they could come to an accommodation, they could both make better offerings to clients and pass along savings.

He confirmed that Sahara, through its distribution arm, Annex Distribution, is exploring a possible product and technology partnership in the areas of imaging, printing and storage, while DCC is contemplating ways of accessing Annex`s Lexmark consumables and Intel`s product array.

Rex says if the companies can find a way past the technicalities, they could, for the sake of argument, each buy products worth R5 million from each other at cost, add a margin and still deliver value to customers.

Rex says there is nothing on paper about the collaboration and precious little to say. "There are not even timelines."

Sahara did not respond to calls for comment.