South Africa Antitrust Authority Blocks Horseracing Deals

South Africa’s Competition Commission recommended that a series of transactions involving Phumelela Gaming & Leisure Ltd. (PHM) be blocked because it will limit competition in the horseracing and betting industry.

As part of the transaction, Kenilworth Racing (Pty) Ltd. plans to buy the Western Cape business of closely-held Gold Circle (Pty) Ltd., the Pretoria-based commission said. The Thoroughbred Horseracing Trust, the largest shareholder in Phumelela, will then acquire Kenilworth, a company specifically created for the transaction, the commission said. Phumelela will then manage Kenilworth and Gold Circle, it said.

“The proposed transactions will significantly lessen competition in the horseracing administration, horseracing television rights as well as the betting markets,” the commission said in an e-mailed statement today. “This will allow Phumelela to further entrench its already strong position such that it can exert market power in these markets.”

Phumelela and Gold Circle are the only operators with licenses for betting and gambling activities in each province, the commission said. Gold Circle holds the license in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal and Phumelela the remaining provinces. After the transaction, Phumelela will operate in eight of South Africa’s nine provinces, leaving Gold Circle with only its KwaZulu-Natal business, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sikonathi Mantshantsha in Johannesburg at smantshantsh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net