COMPCO APPROVES MEDSCHEME SHARES ACQUISITION

MBABANE – The Eswatini Competition Commission has approved the acquisition of 75 per cent shares held in Medscheme Holdings (Pty) Ltd by Oracle Insure Eswatini Limited.

The acquiring party is Oracle of Lot 219 Somhlolo Road, Mbabane, Eswatini. Oracle is a provider of insurance products and services in the country, including life, short-term and health insurance. Oracle’s short-term and health insurance offerings are housed in the same legal entity operating under the same licence. According to information from the commission’s last quarter report for 2020/21, the target firm is MH shares held in MAE and MHIE. MH which is selling its shares to Oracle its address is 37 Conrad Street, Florida North, Roodepoort 1709, South Africa. MH is involved in the business of health management service provision and medical aid administration of medical schemes in South Africa, Eswatini, Namibia and Mauritius. The ultimate controller of MH is Afrocentric Health (RF) (Pty) Ltd.

The commission considered the products of the firms and concluded that the relevant market is the provision of private healthcare cover in Eswatini. “There are overlaps in the activities of Medscheme and Oracle Insure in the relevant market. However, the transaction was categorised as a phase one merger because the overlaps in the relevant market between the merging firms are below 15 per cent,” ruled the commission. Pursuant to the implementation of the proposed transaction, Oracle will acquire control over Medscheme subsidiaries. Post-merger, the market shares in the relevant market, market concentration, countervailing power and barriers to entry will not be affected. As a result, the transaction is unlikely to result in the substantial lessening or prevention of competition. Therefore, the transaction was approved without conditions.

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