Expert testimony in major hostile takeover in mining sector

Genesis was commissioned to provide expert economic testimony before the Competition Tribunal in an ultimately unsuccessful hostile takeover bid for Goldfields by Harmony in the gold mining sector. The focus of the project was on the social dimensions of mining mergers, with particular reference to employment losses.

The project team also co-authored a report with Professor Haroon Bhorat, in which econometric techniques were used to estimate the effects of past mergers and acquisitions in the gold mining industry on local communities as well as the implications of the proposed Harmony/Goldfields transaction.

The team found that past transactions had resulted in rapid employment loss in the short-term. This, in turn, had been associated with a high level of social loss as most mine workers were unable to find alternative employment.