The Competition Commission of South Africa has announced that it has recommended to the Competition Tribunal that the latter approve the acquisition of Safair Holdings by Harith Aviation, with conditions. Safair Holdings, which controls Safair Operations, is currently owned, ultimately, by ASL Aviation Holdings.
In turn, Safair Operations owns and operats low-cost airline FlySafair, which operates scheduled passenger services both domestically and regionally, and carries cargo in the belly holds of its airliners.
Harith Aviation is controlled jointly by Pan-African Infrastructure Development Fund 2 SA (PAIDF 2) and Harith Infraco Limited. PAIDF 2 is in an “en commandite” partnership with and is represented by GP Fund 2. (In an en commandite partnership, one partner provides capital and has only limited liability, while the other manages the business and has full liability.) Both PAIDF 2 and GP Fund 2 are controlled by Harith GP. Harith Infraco is not controlled by any other company. As for Harith GP, it is ultimately solely controlled by Harith Holdings. For simplicity, the commission refers to all these companies as the acquiring group.
“The acquiring group is an asset management firm specialising in infrastructure fund management through Harith GP,” explains the commission. “The primary activities of Harith GP involve financing infrastructure projects across various sectors, including energy, transportation, telecommunications, water and sanitation and healthcare.”
