Mr Christo Els > Webber Wentzel > Johannesburg, South Africa > Lawyer Profile
Webber Wentzel Offices
90 RIVONIA ROAD, SANDTON
JOHANNESBURG 2196,
PO BOX 61771, MARSHALLTOWN 2107
South Africa
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Mr Christo Els
Position
Senior Partner
Career
Christo specialises in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), corporate finance, equity capital markets and securities regulation law. He has advised on a number of large, transformational and cross-border transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa. His matters include advising on the African aspects of AB InBev’s take-over of SABMiller; Woolworths’ ZAR 23 billion takeover of David Jones in Australia; Mercer Africa’s acquisition of a 34% interest in the Alexander Forbes Group; Walmart’s purchase of a majority stake in Massmart; Vodafone’s acquisition of a majority interest in Vodacom; and Gutsche Family Investments on the creation of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. Other complex deals include advising Al Noor Hospitals Group Plc on the combination of Al Noor and Mediclinic International Ltd; Oceana Group on the acquisition of Daybrook Fisheries in the USA; Tsogo Sun in respect of the ZAR 11 billion disposal by SABMiller plc of its 39.6% stake in Tsogo Sun; and the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China in respect of its ZAR 37 billion acquisition of 20% of Standard Bank. He has advised on a number of listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, including the listings of AB InBev (ZAR 3 trillion secondary inward listing), Ethos Capital, Life Healthcare, Mondi, Mpact and Vodacom Group.
Education
Lawyer Rankings
South Africa > Commercial, corporate and M&A
(Hall of Fame)Safiyya Patel heads up Webber Wentzel‘s corporate practice, which continues to handle a high volume of prominent M&A transactions for clients in the technology, media, mining, financial services and healthcare sectors, to name a few areas. Gareth Driver
is highly regarded for his expertise in corporate law, with a workload that takes in BEE transactions, joint ventures, corporate finance and corporate governance matters, and firm managing partner Sally Hutton is well known as a private equity specialist. Cross-border transactions form the backbone of Christo Els‘ practice, while Jesse Watson advises on equity capital markets and public and private M&A deals. Justin Roberts and Colin du Toit also play important roles in the group. In mid-2023 Huneiza Goolam joined the department and Ziyanda Ntshona left the firm.
Lawyer Rankings
- Commercial, corporate and M&A South Africa
- Hall of Fame South Africa > Commercial, corporate and M&A
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Banking and finance
- Commercial, corporate and M&A
- Competition
- Dispute resolution
- Employment
- Investment funds
- Mining
- Shipping and transport
- Tax