Competition Authority approves M Price control of Studio 88
The Competition and Consumer Authority has unconditionally approved the acquisition by Mr Price Group Limited (Mr Price) of sole control of Blue Falcon 188 Trading Proprietary Limited (trading as Studio 88 Group) and hereinafter referred to as (Studio 88). “Pursuant to the provision of section 53 of the Competition Act, the Authority has decided to unconditionally approve the proposed acquisition by Mr Price Group Limited of sole control of Blue Falcon 188 Trading Proprietary Limited.” The authority stated that although it established that there exists an overlap in the activities of the merging parties in the relevant market, there exists enough competition in the market to discipline the behaviour of the Merged Enterprise. “Thus, the Authority did not establish any substantial lessening of competition concerns arising from the merger. Furthermore, there is no acquisition of market dominance post-merger; norany negative effect on public interest that was identified as per the provisions of section 52(2) of the Competition Act, 2018.”