Senwes gets green light on Afgri joint venture

Genesis was commissioned to provide expert economic analysis in relation to a proposed joint venture between Senwes and Afgri.

Both companies were involved in various agricultural activities, including the storage and trading of grain and oilseeds, as well as the provision of various agricultural inputs to farmers. The joint venture was intended to combine the parties’ respective retail farming requisite stores and certain other related businesses.

The project team defined the relevant markets and established a framework for examining competitive constraints between farming requisite stores in overlapping catchment areas. The team also assessed the extent of the competitive overlap between the individual stores owned by the two parties, as well as potential foreclosure concerns.

The assessment found that the merger did not raise any competition concerns due to a sufficient number of alternative suppliers and stores being present in overlapping areas. Furthermore, the joint venture did not raise any vertical concerns in terms of either customer or input foreclosure.

The Competition Commission and the Competition Tribunal determined that the merger did not raise any competition concerns. As a result, the transaction was approved without any substantive conditions.