South Africa has become the latest country to approve Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. The Competition Tribunal of South Africa has announced that it has “unconditionally approved” the Microsoft-Activision merger, which makes it the 10th market to approve the merger publicly.
The Competition Tribunal will publish the “reasons for its decision” later, but has released the following statement:
The Competition Tribunal (“Tribunal”) has unconditionally approved the proposed merger, which is a global transaction, whereby Anchorage Merger Sub Inc. (“Anchorage”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (“Microsoft”) intends to acquire Activision Blizzard, Inc. (“Activision”).
The merger has now been approved in 30+ countries (including regions in the European Union), however, it faces a roadblock in two key regions including the USA and UK.
Just recently, the FTC filed for a Preliminary Injunction to stop the proposed merger, and we have covered the major news that came out during the four-day-long hearing. A decision is expected later this month. However, in the UK, Microsoft has appealed the CMA’s block to the CAT Tribunal with the hearing due on July 28.