DLA Piper has appointed nine lawyers to its Johannesburg office, including the hire of a five-strong Corporate team, three hires to its Finance practice and one to its Competition practice. This follows the recent appointment of Johannes Gouws as Country Managing Partner for South Africa as the firm continues its expansion on the continent.
Peter Bradshaw joins as a partner and Head of Corporate for South Africa from Weber Wentzel. Peter specialises in cross-border and domestic M&A, capital markets, securities regulation and general commercial law. Joining alongside Peter are Marita van der Walt, who specialises in all aspects of M&A, general finance and preference share funding and private equity and Nada van Dyk, who specialises in M&A, securities regulation and general corporate and commercial law, both of whom will be directors of the South African practice. Also joining the Corporate practice are associates Rakhee Singh and Amy Eliason.
Jackie Pennington joins the Finance & Projects practice as a partner from Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr. Jackie specialises in debt and preference share finance transactions. Her practice focuses on financial services, private equity and debt capital markets. Joining with Jackie are senior associates Nick Goldberg, who specialises in leveraged, asset and vendor financing, preference share and debt funding, refinancing and the structuring of empowerment transactions and general restructurings, and Pride Jani, who specialises in asset finance, acquisition finance, bank regulation and compliance, debt restructuring and workouts, financial services regulation and investment management related matters.
The firm has also appointed Janine Simpson as a director in its Competition practice, part of the Litigation & Regulatory group. Janine advises local and international clients on all aspects of competition law, with a specific focus on merger control in South Africa and other African countries. Janine has extensive experience in matters involving the South African competition authorities across a wide range of sectors, as well as numerous regional competition authorities in the rest of Africa.
Johannes Gouws, Country Managing Partner for DLA Piper in South Africa said: “The calibre of the lawyers that have joined us clearly demonstrates the strength of DLA Piper’s brand locally and internationally. Our South Africa office is very much open for business with a strong client offering centred on our corporate and finance capabilities.”
Simon Levine, Global Co-CEO at DLA Piper, said: “We would like to welcome all of the lawyers that have joined the firm’s South Africa office. We are confident that their experience and knowledge will further establish DLA Piper on the continent enabling us to better serve the needs of our clients.”
Source: www.dlapiper.com
