Claire is a practising attorney and has been a partner at Bowmans since 2001. Prior to being appointed as a partner in the Competition practice area, Claire practiced as a partner in the Commercial Litigation practice area.

Claire specialises in all aspects of competition law, including merger control, investigations and litigation relating to cartels and other prohibited practices, compliance audits and training programmes.

Claire has advised clients on high profile merger filings in other African jurisdictions, including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana and Kenya.

Having practiced general commercial litigation since the inception of her legal career, Claire has a strong litigation background which is extremely beneficial in an increasingly litigious anti-trust enforcement environment. Claire has handled complex litigation for major blue-chip corporations, including matters before the High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal, Competition Tribunal, Competition Appeal Court and Constitutional Court. Claire is also experienced in mediation and arbitration proceedings.

Claire regularly presents at competition law conferences and has authored articles for local and international publications.

Claire has BA and LLB degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Relevant Experience

• The South African Breweries Proprietary Limited (SAB) in complaint proceedings before the Competition Tribunal and Competition Appeal Court. A number of serious allegations were made against SAB’s distribution system, including prohibited horizontal conduct (as a result of its dual distribution arrangements), resale price maintenance and abuse of dominance (in the form of price discrimination). These allegations were successfully defended after almost 10 years of litigation.
• SABMiller in relation to the consolidation of the bottling operations of SABMiller, The Coca-Cola Company and Gutsche Family Investments resulting in the creation of the biggest bottler of non-alcoholic beverages in Africa, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. The merger also involved the sale of SABMiller’s Appletiser brand, and various other non-alcoholic beverages brands, to TCCC. Competition filings were lodged and approved in South Africa, COMESA, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana and even as far afield as Honduras.
• Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV in relation to its disposal of a 54.5% stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa to The Coca-Cola Company in a transaction valued at USD3.15 billion, which also involved merger notifications in a number of African jurisdictions.
• A world leading marketing communications group in respect of various acquisitions in South Africa and other African countries in the marketing communications services and media buying services markets, involving merger notifications to and approved by competition authorities in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania.
• Datatec Limited in respect of the acquisition of Comztek Holdings Proprietary Limited in the ICT industry. Competition filings were lodged and approved in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia and Botswana.
• Ster-Kinekor Theatres, a division of Primedia, in successfully defending complaint referral proceedings referred by the Competition Commission to the Competition Tribunal, involving allegations of market allocation in the market for the exhibition of movies at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, in contravention of section 4(1)(b) of the Competition Act. The matter is currently on appeal before the Competition Appeal Court.
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Awards

• Recognised by Who’s Who Legal as a Competition Future Leader in the Partners category in both 2020 and 2021.
• Competition and Regulatory Team of the Year at the African Legal Awards 2015 as a result of the successful defense of the long-running SAB matter
• Selected for Global Competition Review‘s Women in Antitrust 2016
• Advised on the AB InBev/SABMiller matter which has been nominated for the Global Competition Review (GCR) Awards 2017 Matter of the year: Merger control, cartel, unilateral conduct, litigation or any other competition matter worldwide. Creative, strategic and innovative work by teams of in-house and external lawyers and economists.

• South Africa: Competition Tribunal conditionally approves merger based on novel competition and public interest conditions
• The Competition Amendment Bill, 2018 introduced in Parliament
• The Competition Amendment Bill, 2018 introduced in Parliament: Abuse of dominance – section 8
• Two Bowmans partners listed in Global Competition Review’s Women in Antitrust Report 2016
• Brewery says cheers to decision
• A detailed analysis of the Yara and Loungefoam matters, Competition law: Sibergramme 6/2012