South Africa’s Competition Commission has approved the proposed merger of e-commerce brands Takealot and Kalahari, with the merger now set to become effective as of February 1.
The proposed merger under the Takealot brand was announced by the two companies in October last year, with the firms saying the move was necessitated by the need for greater scale for both Takealot and Kalahari.
The newly formed company will use Takealot’s platform and technology and be led by Takealot’s existing co-chief executive officers (CEOs) Kim Reid and Willem van Biljon.
Reid said: “We are super excited about the approval of the transaction. This will allow us to build a significant retail entity in South Africa, one that continues to be truly customer focused.”
Takealot and Kalahari said they believed the merger of the two businesses into a single platform will enable it to take advantage of the significant growth opportunities in online retail in South Africa.
”This is a necessary step in the evolution of online retail in South Africa and exciting news. The South African e-tail market is a highly dynamic one, and we foresee significant growth in the future” said Oliver Rippel, senior executive responsible for Kalahari.
