Ezra Davids

Ezra Davids is the Chairman & Senior Partner of Bowmans, based in Johannesburg, advising on large and complex domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A), capital markets and securities matters. He serves as the relationship partner for a number of the firm's key multinational clients, including Barrick Gold Corporation, Bharti, ExxonMobil, Amazon, Microsoft, Canal Plus, Orange, PepsiCo, Total Energies and UPS.

He has led many of the largest and most intricate transactions on the African continent. Notable matters include advising SABMiller on its combination with AB InBev in a USD 107 billion transaction (the largest M&A transaction in South African corporate history); advising Teck Resources on its merger of equals with Anglo American valued at USD 69 billion; advising Canal+ on its ZAR 57 billion acquisition of MultiChoice Group; advising PepsiCo on its USD 1.7 billion acquisition of Pioneer Foods; and advising Kansai Paint Co. Ltd on its ZAR 3.3 billion hostile bid for Freeworld Coatings—the first and only successful cross-border hostile bid in South Africa. He has also advised on major equity capital markets transactions, including the ZAR 20 billion IPO of Dis-Chem and the ZAR 12 billion IPO of Alexander Forbes.

Ezra holds a BA and LL.B from the University of Cape Town, a HDip Tax from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a Certificate in Leadership in Law Firms from Harvard Law School. He is an Admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.

He plays an active leadership role within the International Bar Association as a long-standing officer of the Corporate M&A Committee. He serves on the Council of the University of Cape Town and is a board member of the Legal Resources Centre, Freedom Under Law and the Social Justice Initiative. He was the first practising African lawyer to be featured on the front cover of The American Lawyer.