Massmart (PK) (USOTC:MMRTY)
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JOHANNESBURG--Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is confident its $2.4 billion acquisition of South African retailer Massmart Holdings Ltd. (MSM.JO) will go ahead, despite an appeal against the deal by one of the country's unions, the retailer said Wednesday.

The retailers closed on the deal last week after getting merger approval from competition authorities at the start of June and they already have begun a price-cutting campaign in South Africa.

The unions' move "has no impact on the implementation of the transaction, including steps already taken and those still to be taken," Wal-Mart said in a joint release with Massmart.

South Africa's Competition Tribunal has cleared Wal-Mart to buy a 51% stake in the retailer but unions oppose the deal, fearing that Wal-Mart will increase imports, so squeezing out local suppliers and endangering jobs.

The South Africa Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union, or SACCAWU, represents all workers in the service sector. Secretariat Coordinator Lucas Ramatlhodi said that the union is appealing because the conditions imposed on the deal are too vague and expose the unions to job cuts and reduced bargaining power in future.

South Africa's Competition Tribunal, an independent body housed in the Economic Development Department, approved the deal with conditions. The conditions are the same as those Wal-Mart had offered at the end of a week-long hearing in May.

Wal-Mart must freeze job cuts for the next two years; honor union bargaining agreements for three; and invest 100 million rand ($14.5 million) in a supply-chain training program to improve competitiveness of local industry.

"The tribunal failed to protect the economy of South Africa, it failed to protect the retail industry and the small business suppliers' ability to survive beyond the entry of Wal-Mart," Ramatlhodi said.

-By Devon Maylie, Dow Jones Newswires; +27 (11) 783 7848; devon.maylie@dowjones.com