adminJOHANNESBURG. — South Africa’s Competition Commission will fail to meet Tuesday’s deadline for completing an investigation into Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s takeover of SABMiller Plc and will extend the probe. The antitrust agency needs to make a recommendation about the deal to South Africa’s Competition Tribunal, which is among regulatory authorities across the world who must sign off on the 74,7-billion-pound ($106,1 billion) takeover that combines the world’s biggest brewers. London-based SABMiller, which started selling beer to gold miners in Johannesburg in 1895, controls 90 percent of South Africa’s market.
Legislation permits the commission to extend a takeover probe by 15 days, Itumeleng Lesofe, spokesman for the Pretoria-based antitrust regulator, said by phone on Monday.
“There is still work that needs to be done and a number of issues that needs to be considered,” Lesofe said, declining to comment further. — Bloomberg.
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