Charles Young heads up our Mining Sector Group.

He specialises in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions and general corporate and commercial law in the mining and resources sector. Charles has significant experience in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, governed by both English and South African law, across the African continent, including in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Ghana, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Mali and Kenya. His clients include local and international mining houses, energy and resources companies, telecommunications, banking and insurance institutions and hospitality and gaming concerns.

Charles has an LLM from Yale Law School, USA and B.Com and LLB (Hons) degrees from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

He is admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, an attorney at law in the State of New York and a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.

Relevant Experience

• Advised Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd in relation to its acquisition of AngloGold’s South African assets and related liabilities, which include Mponeng, the world’s deepest mine, for approximately USD 300 million (ZAR 4.44 billion), with USD 200 million to be paid at closing and the balance as deferred consideration.
• Advised Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd in relation to its USD 300 million acquisition of the Moab Khotsong mine, the Great Noligwa mine and related infrastructure from AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. – Energy and Natural Resources Deal of the Year, African Legal Awards 2018.
• Advised ARM on the restructure of its joint venture arrangements with Glencore in respect of ARM Coal Proprietary Limited’s participation in the Glencore Participating Coal Business and the Goedgevonden Coal Mine.
• Advised Lanxess Proprietary Limited (along with its parent company, Lanxess Deutschland GmbH) on the disposal of its 74% shareholding in its South African chrome ore mining company to Chrome Production Holdings (a supplier of chrome fine ores), and on the sale of its chrome chemicals business to Brother Enterprises in China.
• Advised a multinational mining company on a transaction involving the proposed acquisition of an equity interest in certain South African chrome mines.
• Advised Orion Resources in respect of its acquisition of an equity interest in Blyvoor Gold Capital Proprietary Limited. The estimated deal value, which included various gold streaming, offtake and equity arrangements, was USD 60 million.
• Advised Rio Tinto in relation to the South African aspects of its acquisition of Riversdale Mining Limited for USD 4 billion, and the subsequent sale to the Menar Holding Group of its equity interest in Zululand Anthracite Colliery Proprietary Limited.
• Advised Puma Energy in its acquisition of various retail focused petroleum businesses, including in South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
• Advised Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation plc in its ZAR 2.2 billion acquisition from Mvelaphanda Resources Limited of 12.2% of the issued share capital of Northam Platinum Limited.
• Advised Tata Communications in respect of the proposed ZAR 7 billion disposal of Neotel to the Vodacom Group, and the subsequent proposed sale of Neotel to Liquid Telecommunications and Royal Bafokeng Holdings.
• Advised Peermont Global Group in relation to the proposed acquisition of the group by Sun International, and its previous raising of ZAR 5.3 billion of new debt and the associated recapitalisation and restructuring of the hospitality and gaming group.
• Advised Schneider Electric in relation to its ZAR 850 million sale of Conlog, a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of pre-paid electricity meters and related applications.
• Advised Old Mutual Plc in the aborted negotiations related to the acquisition by HSBC of control of Nedbank Limited.
• Advised Simon Property Group Inc. (the largest real estate firm in the United States listed on the New York Stock Exchange), in the proposed acquisition of LSE and JSE listed Capital and Counties Properties Plc (formerly Liberty Properties).

Signature Matters

• Harmony Gold’s acquisition of AngloGold Ashanti’s SA assets

Awards

• Chambers and Partners ranked Charles in Band 4 for his work in Corporate/ M&A in both 2020 and 2021 and in Band 5 for the same category in 2019. In 2021, Chambers and Partners also ranked Charles in Band 4 for Energy & Natural Resources: 
• IFLR1000 Financial and Corporate Guide rated Charles as Highly Regarded for the past four consecutive years (2018 to 2021) and as a Rising Star in 2015 and 2016, for his work in Energy and Infrastructure, Project Development, Capital Markets: Debt as well as M&A, particularly within the Energy and Mining sectors.
• Legal 500 ranked Charles in Tier 3 for Mining in 2020 and as a Recommended Lawyer in Commercial Corporate and M&A in 2017 and as a Leading Individual in 2021. Charles was also ranked as a Recommended Lawyer Mining in 2017.

Charles Young continues to bolster his already notable reputation in the market. One market source noted that he is “always responsive and approachable”, concluding “His expertise is among the best I have encountered”. – Chambers and Partners 2020

Charles Young has developed an impressive reputation for his M&A practice, primarily acting on transactions in the mining sector. Commentators endorse him as “very approachable and very knowledgeable.” – Chambers and Partners 2019

Charles Young is a recognized leader in mining M&A – Legal 500

• South Africa: SA mining looks to the long term despite its waning standing on the investment attractiveness index
• Practising Law Institute: Doing Business in and with Emerging Markets 2021: South African Chapter
• The Chambers Global Practice Guide on Mining, 2020 – South Africa Chapter
• Six things you need to know about Mining Charter III
• Reviewed Mining Charter published amid threats of court application to stop its implementation
• Certainty will help mining sector to do things better
• Delayed MPRDA Amendment Bill unfavourable