Christo Els

Practice Areas

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.

Career

Christo's qualifications include:

Programme in Leading Professional Service Firms, Harvard Business School, 2008

LLM (Tax) (cum laude), University of South Africa, 2001

LLB (magna cum laude), University of Pretoria, 1995

BLC (cum laude), University of Pretoria, 1993

Admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa