Pretoria, September 23, 2025 — South Africa’s Competition Tribunal has given the green light to Ninety One Ltd’s acquisition of Sanlam Investment Management (SIM), subject to conditions that the merged entity complies with safeguards against the sharing of confidential information between competitors.
The Tribunal approval rests heavily on a range of conditions designed to safeguard competition, protect employees and promote transformation. Among others, these involve confidentiality and information-sharing protocols and business separation measures.
In addition to the information-sharing restrictions, the Tribunal also imposed other public-interest conditions. Ninety One must observe a moratorium on merger-related retrenchments, support transformation initiatives to expand opportunities for small and historically disadvantaged (HDP)-owned firms and stockbrokers, and implement enterprise and supplier development programmes.
Under the agreement, Ninety One will acquire SIM from Sanlam Investment Holdings (SIH), taking sole control of the business. Ninety One, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, manages a wide range of financial products including equities, fixed income, multi-asset, and alternative investments, and operates a Linked Investment Service Provider (LISP) in South Africa.
SIM, a wholly owned subsidiary of SIH, focuses on single-manager active asset management and risk management services for retail and institutional clients in South Africa and Europe. Sanlam Limited, SIH’s parent, is one of the country’s largest diversified financial services groups.
