Allen & Overy South Africa appoints leading corporate and commercial partners to head up new practice

Brian and Ze’ev were both previously directors at Werksmans, specialising in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). They bring a wealth of expertise and capacity to A&O’s Johannesburg office, including domestic and cross-border M&A, corporate and project finance, listings/flotations, public offerings and private placements, private equity transactions, B-BBEE, distressed asset disposals and restructuring transactions as well as advising on cross-border investment, securities law, and corporate governance issues more generally.

A&O Johannesburg Managing Partner, Gerhard Rudolph, says, “We are delighted to welcome Brian and Ze’ev to the team. Their appointments form part of our ongoing expansion and diversification efforts, which can be seen through several strategic hires in the past year. We are excited to continue to cement our position as a world leader in cross-border transactional work, now with significant capacity to this end in the Johannesburg office, with a particular emphasis on opportunities in Africa."

M&A activity internationally has been at an all-time high. It’s likely this momentum will continue in 2022, with significant opportunities foreseen across the African continent, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Bringing Brian and Ze’ev on board extends our capacity to better serve our clients from an African base, leveraging the firm’s global strength and experience in cross-border transactions.”

Tim Scales, Head of A&O’s Africa Group and Global Co-Head of Projects adds, “We’re very excited to have Brian and Ze’ev on board.  Adding corporate and M&A capability in Johannesburg to our established platform for energy, infrastructure, natural resources and telecoms strengthens our coverage of the entire life cycle of assets in these sectors at a time when investor interest in such assets is growing significantly, both in South Africa and across the African continent.”