COMPETITION TRIBUNAL OF SOUTH AFRICA 
								CASE NO:  123/LM/NOV08
In the matter between:				
FIRST RAND BANK LIMITED 					 Acquiring Firm	
and
UNITRANS MOTORS (PROPRIETARY LIMITED	                        Target firms
______________________________________________________________________
Panel	:   N Manoim (Presiding Member), Y Carrim (Tribunal Member), and  
                         M Mokuena (Tribunal Member)
Heard on	:  19 	December  2008
Order issued on	:  19 December 2008
Reasons issued on	:  14 January 2009  

                                             REASONS FOR DECISION 

APPROVAL 
1.	On 19 December 2008 the Tribunal approved the merger between the aforementioned parties.  The reasons for the decision follow:  

THE PARTIES 
2.	The primary acquiring firm is FirstRand Bank, an investment holding company controlled by FirstRand Limited. WesBank is a division of FirstRand Bank. The primary target firm is Contract Lease Management (Pty) Ltd (CLM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Unitrans Motors.

THE TRANSACTION AND RATIONALE
3.	In terms of the proposed transaction FirstRand Bank will acquire the entire issued share capital of CLM from Unitrans Motors. 
4.	The rationale for the proposed transaction for FirstRand Bank is to expand its fleet management business  through CLM’s business which  compliments WesBank’s current needs, as CLM has extensive  expertise and skills in fleet management. 
5.	Unitrans Motors regards the proposed transaction as an opportunity to realise its investment.

RELEVANT PRODUCT MARKET 

6.	There is a horizontal overlap in the market for fleet management services in South Africa  where both parties are active. CLM through Unitrans Motors is a provider of fleet management services. FirstRand Bank is also involved in the fleet management business through WesBank Fleet Services which is conducted within the WesBank division.

7.	In this market FirstRand Bank has merely 0.75% market share premerger.  The post merger market share is estimated at 3.75% which is low compared to other competitors in this market. The strongest competitors in this market include the following with their respective market shares; Avis Fleet Services – 18%, Imperial Fleet Service - 17%, Super Group – 16%, Absa Vehicle Management Solutions – 15%,  and Debis Fleet Management – 12%. 

8.	At the hearing, the merging parties stressed that the fleet management market is highly competitive, and that though the current trend in this market has generally faired towards consolidating due to access to finance and funding issues, there are smaller players entering the market and also creating partnerships with others. 

CONCLUSION

9.	 Based on the above, the Tribunal finds that this merger will not result in any substantial lessening or prevention of competition in the relevant market.  Accordingly, the merger is approved without conditions.  

10.	 There are no public interest issues. 

_______________						14 January 2009		
N Manoim                         		   			Date
Tribunal Member

Y Carrim  and M Mokoena  concurring
For the merging parties	: Vani Chetty Competition Law
For the Commission		: Xolela Nokele
Tribunal Researcher: L Xaba