The Competition Commission has given the go-ahead to Mr Price’s planned purchase of Yuppiechef, a privately-owned South African business focused on home and kitchenware.<\/p>\n
The regulator has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the proposed transaction without conditions, it said in a statement on Thursday (8 July).<\/p>\n
It found that the proposed transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition in any relevant markets. It further found that the proposed transaction does not raise any public interest concerns.<\/p>\n
In March, Mr Price announced its plans to purchase 100% of Yuppiechef. Yuppiechef was founded in 2006 and is aimed at the distribution of aspirational kitchen and homeware brands.<\/p>\n
The business has two primary operations \u2013 Yuppiechef Online, the retail division comprising the online platform and seven stores, as well as a wholesale division, which develops, and imports branded goods for wholesale distribution.<\/p>\n
It commenced operations as a pure e-commerce company and since 2017 has transitioned into a full retail platform.<\/p>\n
Mr Price said that purchase will give it the opportunity to gain access to a higher LSM customer base, enabling the growth of its share-of-wallet through \u2018aspirational value spending\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very excited about welcoming the Yuppiechef team into our family,\u201d said Mr Price chief executive Mark Blair.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are partnering with a market-leading business which has won numerous awards relating to both e-commerce and stores, and Yuppiechef has a proven ability to launch private-label categories which have also attracted industry recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n