Our M&A practice group provides top quality legal advice on all aspects of public and private mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions.

Our group comprises over twenty senior lawyers who are widely recognised as the leading individuals in South Africa’s M&A field. They have advised local and international clients for many years. The group includes a number of dedicated and dynamic junior lawyers who specialise in mergers and acquisitions. In addition, lawyers from other practice groups are routinely involved in M&A.

The group has been involved in a number of prominent mergers and acquisitions in South Africa. We have served as the South African attorneys for many international financial institutions and corporates in respect of the South African and African aspects of multinational mergers and acquisitions. We regularly advise leading international law firms and merchant banks on the South African and African legs of international transactions.

Over the years, we have successfully defended and initiated a number of highly publicised hostile takeovers. In recent times, we have been involved in the structuring and implementation of complex Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) transactions. The M&A practice group has considerable expertise in the fields of privatisation and public-to-private transactions and has been involved in numerous transactions where shareholders have become more active in the management of their companies.

We have strong expertise in cross-border transactions and we have a large multi-national client base. Our experience covers virtually every sector, including mining, banking, construction, telecommunications, brewing, information technology, energy, pharmaceutical, healthcare, manufacturing and transport.

We have acted for government departments and their agencies in the private and public sales of various entities to achieve privatisation. We also have particular expertise in BEE transactions, having acted for the various parties involved in many significant transactions, including major shareholders, financiers, BEE consortia and target companies.

Our experience, breadth and depth of skills at all levels of seniority, and our good relationships with relevant regulators and government agencies, enable us to play an effective role in our clients’ advisory teams.