Pearson plc bought Harcourt Education International from Elsivier in an international deal. Pearson owns a South African publishing company, Maskew Miller Longman, and Harcourt owns a South African publisher, Heinemann. Control of both publishers passes to Pearson and that is regarded as a merger in law.
There are only five large textbook publishers in South Africa, Maskew Miller Longman is the largest. Intergration of Maskew Miller Longman and Heinemann would create a giant publisher much bigger than the other publishers, and that would be bad for competion. Lack of competition means 'one size fits all' type textbooks.
The result of concentration is reduced competition, fewer titles, less diversity, and often higher prices. Diversity, local content, appropriate content, translation into South African languages are all very important for textbooks. Textbooks are important in forming a child's worldview. For many South African children textbooks are the only books they'll ever see.
The Competition Commission allowed the merger to go ahead but ruled that Maskew Miller Longman and Heinemann may not integrate without going back to the Competition Commission for permission. So diversity was preserved, at least for now.
The textbook publishing market is still too concentrated. The printing houses are controlled by large publishers. Many South African school children don't have textbooks and just as many don't have textbooks best suited to them. These are ongoing problems which the Foundation is partnering with others to solve.