The Competition Commission's move to block the Burger King and Grand Parade Investment's merger for not meeting black ownership requirements sends a strong message on how hard South Africa intends to drive Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) going forward. This is according to lawyers from Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, who spoke about how SA is regulating ownership and transformation through law and policy during a webinar hosted by the firm on Thursday. "The decision does send a strong signal to the market about how seriously the policy is taken. It will come across as a very binary decision, and I think it will put a lot of questions in dealmakers' minds," said Chris Charter, the director of competition law at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, during the webinar.

Source: News 24 June 04, 2021 18:33 UTC