Competition tribunal rules in favour of Aon

The Competition Tribunal has ruled in favour of Aon South Africa’s proposal in its appeal against the restrictions imposed by the Competition Commission on potential retrenchments of staff following Aon’s acquisition of Glenrand M·I·B.

The Competition Tribunal accepted Aon South Africa’s proposal that there would be no retrenchments of employees earning below R15000 and that it would cap the number of retrenchments of those earning between R15000 and R30000 at 24, for a two year period.

On Tuesday, the Competition Commission withdrew from the hearing, which continued without it, but rejoined the proceedings later in the day to present its closing argument.

“The ruling by the Competition Tribunal is a clear indication that the Competition Commission’s restrictions placed on Aon, almost four months ago, were unreasonable,” says Aon South Africa CEO, Anton Roux.

“While we are pleased with the ruling; it is extremely unfortunate that this matter could not be settled with the Competition Commission earlier so that we could provide clarity to our employees and clients.

“We are still committed to redeploying employees within the business wherever possible and to minimising any potential job losses. We have already significantly reduced the number of potential job losses from the 220 initially proposed following the acquisition, down to 66. We are acutely aware of the current economic environment and impact of job losses and remain committed to minimising the impact of the merger on our employees,” says Roux.

Aon’s acquisition of Glenrand M·I·B creates one of the largest insurance broking and risk management companies in South Africa and Africa.