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ENGEN DEAL: EVEN WITH 'THESE' CONDITIONS, FOREIGNERS KEEP BUYING OUR ASSETS

Moneyweb

The laundry list of commitments signed between the department of trade, industry and competition and Engen's new owners Vivo Energy (a subsidiary of Vitol) is quite something. Some of it is standard stuff: an overall capital commitment over five years, no retrenchments due to the merger, a worker ownership trust, and some money for the Localisation Support Fund (LSF).

These kinds of public interest commitments are part of the package when it comes to large transactions in SA.

The department and its agencies regulating competition negotiate and impose them on acquirers of local assets (as was the case in Heineken's purchase of Distell, Pepsico's acquisition of Pioneer Foods, DP World's Imperial Logistics buy, and even the Shoprite Holdings deal for certain Massmart stores, for example).

Politically, the concessions and commitments extracted from purchases Vivo Energy in this instance - are useful.