Dutch multinational company AkzoNobel has been prohibited from acquiring Kansai Paints in three African markets for fear of creating a monopoly. A regional competition commission under the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), an economic community in Africa with 21 member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini, has halted the merger saying the transaction would have created "significant market share accretion and reduced choice in the market for decorative coatings in Eswatini, Zambia and Zimbabwe." COMESA Competition Commission's Director and CEO Dr. Willard Mwemba said on September 4, 2023 the "merging parties are each other's closest competitors in terms of price and quality" and that the remedies offered by AkzoNobel and Kansai Paints "were not sufficient to address these concerns."