阿纳·蒙特罗报道：南非反垄断委员会采取行动，要求撤销对国内两大包装食品生产商合并案的批准，理由是双方隐瞒了交易后关闭一家水果罐头厂的关键信息。
Africa’s antitrust commission moved to revoke the approval of a merger between two of the nation’s biggest packaged food producers, saying they withheld key information about post-deal plans to shutter a fruit-canning plant.
该委员会周三在一份声明中表示，已于昨日向竞争法庭提交申请，要求撤销后者今年三月对普里米尔集团（Premier Group Ltd.）收购较小竞争对手RFG控股公司（RFG Holdings Ltd.）一事作出的有条件同意决定。
The Competition Commission filed an application with the Competition Tribunal yesterday, seeking the revocation of the latter panel’s conditional consent for Premier Group Ltd.’s acquisition of smaller rival RFG Holdings Ltd. in March, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
委员会表示，这是自2019年南非全面修订反垄断法以来，其首次申请撤销合并批准。
The commission said this is the first time it has applied for a revocation since South Africa overhauled its antitrust law in 2019.
根据南非反垄断法，委员会负责调查合并案对竞争和公共利益的影响，并可自行决定小型和中型合并案。对于普里米尔与RFG之间此类大型交易，委员会进行调查后向法庭提出建议，由法庭作出最终决定。
Under South African antitrust law, the commission probes the competition and public-interest effects of mergers and can itself decide on small and intermediate ones. In the case of large transactions such as that between Premier and RFG, it investigates and then makes recommendations to the tribunal, which makes the ultimate decision.
今年七月，普里米尔告知委员会，其计划关闭位于西开普省图尔巴格（Tulbagh）的RFG水果罐头厂，该厂是全国仅有的两家此类工厂之一。该机构指出，这家工厂为该地区约200名农民提供了市场渠道，雇佣了400多名长期和固定期限员工，并影响着“更广泛农业价值链中的数千名季节性工人”。
In July, Premier informed the commission that it intended to close RFG’s fruit-canning facility in Tulbagh in the Western Cape province, one of two such plants in the country. The factory provides a route to market for about 200 farmers in the region, employs more than 400 people on permanent and fixed terms, and affects “thousands of seasonal workers across the broader agricultural value chain,” the body said.
委员会称，普里米尔和RFG“未能向委员会和法庭披露有关拟议关闭的信息，尽管双方在法庭批准合并之前已知晓并讨论过这一选项”。“这种未披露行为剥夺了各方在批准合并前评估和应对该关闭行为对竞争及公共利益影响的机会。”
Premier and RFG “failed to disclose information about the contemplated closure to the commission and the tribunal, despite the parties having known of and discussed the option to do so before the tribunal approved the merger,” the commission said. “The non-disclosure denied the parties “an opportunity to assess and address the closure’s competition and public-interest implications before approving” it.
包括南非服装和纺织工人工会在内的各方就关闭工厂一事提出的投诉，使委员会注意到了这一违规行为。
Complaints from parties including the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union about the closure alerted the commission to the breach.
这些公司最初于去年10月宣布了这笔交易。据彭博社的估算，当时该交易的估值约为57.8亿兰特（3.47亿美元）。对于记者的电话或电子邮件请求，总理并未立即作出回应。
The companies first announced the deal in October last year, with the transaction valuing RFG at about 5.78 billion rand ($347 million) at the time, according to Bloomberg calculations. Premier didn’t immediately respond to a call or email seeking comment.