Christo Els

Christo Els is a Partner based in Johannesburg. His primary practice area is Mergers and Acquisitions, and he specialises in 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; the unbundling of Naspers' international internet assets into a Dutch listed controlled company named Prosus; 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.

His recognition includes being named by Chambers Global 2009–2026 as a ranked lawyer and included as an Eminent Practitioner for M&A, Corporate and Capital Markets; named by Best Lawyers 2008–2026 as a leading individual and Lawyer of the Year for Mergers and Acquisitions Law 2023 and 2026 and Lawyer of the Year for Capital Markets Law 2025; named by Legal 500 2014–2025 as a leading individual and included in their Hall of Fame; named by IFLR1000 2010–2022 as a leading lawyer; and named by Who's Who Legal 2010–2017 as a listed lawyer (M&A & Corporate Governance). He was named by DealMakers Magazine as Joint Dealmaker of the Year, 2011, with six further nominations between 2010 and 2022.

He holds a Programme in Leading Professional Service Firms from Harvard Business School (2008), an LLM in Tax (cum laude) from the University of South Africa (2001), an LLB (magna cum laude) from the University of Pretoria (1995) and a BLC (cum laude) from the University of Pretoria (1993). He is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa.