The Competition Commission has asked the Competition Tribunal to revoke its approval of the Premier RFG merger. The application was filed on Tuesday, 6 October 2026. The Commission says Premier and RFG “failed to disclose information about the contemplated closure of the Western Cape plant” while the deal was under review. Premier has denied the claims. For any business that buys from, supplies or competes with the group, the case shows how closure plans and merger conditions can collide.
The group at the centre of the case is large. According to The Citizen, Premier now owns 52 brands, operates 44 manufacturing plants and employs over 15 000 people. The plant in question, Fruit Products Western Cape (FPWC), is one of two fruit-canning plants in South Africa named in that report.
The timing at the core of the complaint
The Commission’s argument turns on timing. Premier announced the closure of FPWC about four months after completing the merger. The Commission argues that this prevented it and the Tribunal from assessing the closure’s competition and public-interest implications before the merger was approved. It confirmed its investigation findings on 7 October 2026.
Commissioner Doris Tshepe’s statement names the conduct at issue: “Withholding material information, whether by omission or as a deliberate act.” Premier rejects that characterisation and says it has engaged with the Commission since July 2026 on the potential closure.
Premier’s position
Premier says the closure has nothing to do with the deal. “The decision to close FPWC is not in any way related to the merger,” the company said. It also says “there has to date been no evidence presented to Premier to demonstrate” the Commission’s case.
Earlier reporting gives Premier’s own reasons for the closure. In a trading statement covered by Daily Investor on 15 September 2026, Premier said the export prospects of the FPWC business had “deteriorated rapidly” to the point where it was “no longer economically viable”. The board decided not to reopen the plant for the upcoming fruit-harvest season. Premier attributed the closure “solely” to “economic challenges facing the global fruit-canning industry”. That report puts the number of affected employees at 424, who were in a section 189 consultation process.
On the staff side, Premier says a CCMA-facilitated Section 189A consultation has concluded and that “no retrenchments will be implemented.” Voluntary severance packages were offered, and “The overwhelming majority of affected employees entered into voluntary severance agreements.”
The merger condition being tested
The Tribunal approved the deal with conditions. Business Day reported in January 2026 that the parties undertook “not to retrench any employees as a result of the merger for a period of three years from the implementation date”. Premier also committed to “increasing the merged group’s combined annual spend on enterprise and supplier development initiatives” over the same three years. No rand figure was given.
Two phrases from the Citizen report matter for any operator reading these conditions closely. The first is that “Any retrenchments made during the period will be presumed to be because of the merger, unless proven otherwise.” The second is that “voluntary severance agreements are not retrenchments.” Premier’s defence leans heavily on the second point. If the Tribunal finds a breach, the highest possible fine is 10% of annual turnover and export turnover.
What operators should take from the case
Three points stand out, and none of them depends on how the Tribunal rules. First, a merger review is a disclosure exercise. If a closure is being considered while a deal is under review, the Commission’s position is that it belongs in the filing. Second, a closure announced after completion can still be measured against conditions on retrenchments. Third, the line between voluntary severance and retrenchment is now being tested in public, so businesses that rely on it should be able to show how offers were made and why.
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What happens next
The reports we checked do not give a Tribunal hearing date. Premier has said that “The matter will ultimately need to be determined by the Competition Tribunal.” It also says it “looks forward to the swift and expeditious resolution of this matter” and “is confident that the commission’s application is misguided and that the Tribunal will agree.”
