The Competition Authority of Kenya has approved the acquisition of Nova Academies Tatu City Property Limited by Summit Real Estate Proprietary Limited .
Summit is incorporated as a real estate developer with investments in South Africa’s education and healthcare sectors, and is looking to venture into other African markets, including Kenya.
Nova is involved in property holding and development. It has developed a learning institution in Athi River, Nova Athi River, which is being managed by Novastar Academies and is in the process of developing another learning institution at Tatu City.
The proposed transaction involves the acquisition of the entire issued share capital in Nova by Summit.
“The transaction therefore qualified as a merger within the meaning of Section 2 and 41 of the Competition Act No.12 of 2010,” says CAK in a statement.
Nova did not have any turnover for the year 2017, but its assets were valued at over Ksh1 billion and, therefore, the transaction met the threshold for full merger analysis as provided in CAK’s Merger Threshold Guidelines.
“The two parties are both involved in property development and therefore, the Authority determined the relevant product market for the purposes of analysis of this transaction as the market for property development,” said the statement by CAK.
The acquisition is expected to launch Summit’s presence in the country. Its management has indicated that it is seeking to invest into and expand the activities of Nova Academies.
“Since the transaction is unlikely to raise negative competition or public interest concerns, the Authority approved the acquisition of the entire issued share capital in Nova Academies Tatu City Property Limited by Summit Real Estate Proprietary Limited,” said CAK.
