Derek Lötter

Derek Lötter is a Senior Partner at Bowmans in Johannesburg, specializing in Competition Law. He has been involved in prominent competition matters before the competition authorities in South Africa and has advised on competition law across various other African countries, with expertise extending to pharmaceutical law, consumer law, and franchising.

Derek has advised on some of the largest and most complex competition matters in Africa, including advising DuPont on the merger of equals with Dow Chemical; advising SABMiller plc on the US$102 billion acquisition by Anheuser‑Busch InBev (with merger notifications filed in South Africa, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe); advising Anheuser‑Busch InBev on the US$3.15 billion disposal of a 54.5% stake in Coca‑Cola Beverages Africa; advising AT&T Inc. on its US$85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc.; and advising General Electric on its acquisitions of Alstom's businesses and Baker Hughes. He has also advised Rockwood Private Equity on the ZAR 5.25 billion disposal of Tsebo Holdings to Wendel SE, and Barloworld on a joint venture with BayWa. He advises the Namibian Competition Commission in complaint proceedings and has represented clients in COMESA and various African jurisdictions.

Derek holds an MBL from the University of South Africa, a B.Com and LL.B from the University of KwaZulu‑Natal, and Certificates in Advanced Company Law and Banking and Financial Markets Law from the University of the Witwatersrand.

He has been consistently recognised by Chambers Global in Band 1 for Competition/Antitrust (2015–2026), by The Legal 500 as a Leading Partner in Competition (2018–2026), by IFLR1000 as a Highly Regarded Lawyer for Competition Law (2018–2025), and by Who's Who Legal as a Thought Leader in Competition (2020–2022, 2024). He was named "Lawyer of the Year" for Competition/Antitrust Law by Best Lawyers (2019).