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The
Commission was due to finish its investigation on Thursday,
after it was granted a 15-day extension to complete its
scrutiny. It has already extended the deadline four times.
South Africa has a history of taking its time over approving
takeovers partly because competition authorities have a public
interest mandate to safeguard jobs, in addition to an anti-trust
mandate to protect competition.
The Competition Commission investigates deals for any anti-trust
issues and submits its views to the Competition Tribunal, which
makes a final ruling on whether a deal should go ahead.
"I confirm that the competition Commission will not be issuing a
decision on the SAB/ABInbev merger today. There will be another
extension," Commission's spokesman Itumeleng Lesofe told
Reuters, without elaborating.
AB InBev, which makes Budweiser and Stella Artois, has already
struck a deal to invest 1 billion rand ($66 million) to support
small South African farmers and freeze layoffs for five years as
part of concessions agreed with the state.
Australia's antitrust regulator on Thursday cleared the deal,
saying the transaction would not adversely affect the domestic
market.
AB InBev still has to secure antitrust clearance in Europe,
where both it and its target are headquartered. The European
Commission has said it will give its verdict on the deal on May
24.
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by James Macharia)
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