Main Supranational Merger Control Regulations Likely To Apply To M&A Transactions In Africa

Most of the African countries have enacted competition law legislations in order to improve market conditions and attract investors. These regimes are very different from one country to another, depending in particular on the history of the country, its culture and whether its legal system is common law or civil law based. It should also be noted that while most of the African competition regimes contain rules addressing anticompetitive practices (e.g., concerted practices, abuse of dominance, State aids), they do not always provide for a merger control regime.

Most of these competition regimes are quite recent and have generally developed as from the very end of the 20th century, some of them still being at the early development stage and requiring improvements, implementing acts or institutions in order to be fully effective.