Tholinhlanhla (Tholi) Gcabashe is the Co-Head of M&A in our Johannesburg office.

He specialises in domestic and cross-border private mergers and acquisitions and general corporate and commercial matters, and has also been part of many high-profile M&A transactions in South Africa’s telecommunications, insurance, investment and property industries.

Tholi has an LLB from the University KwaZulu-Natal and a Certificate in Banking and Financial Markets from the University of the Witwatersrand. In 2021, he successfully completed the Leading Professional Services Firms Programme run by Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Relevant Experience

Tholi has been part of many high profile mergers and acquisitions transactions including:

• Advising Mr Price Group Limited in relation to the acquisition of the business and assets of Otto Brothers Distributors Proprietary Limited trading as Power Fashion;
• Advising Mr Price Group Limited in relation to the acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital in the Yuppiechef group;
• Advising Sommet Education Sarl in respect of a transaction in terms of which it will subscribe for shares in Invictus Education Group Proprietary Limited (IEG) that will result in it holding 60% of the issued share capital of IEG.
• Advising SABMiller in the recommended acquisition by Anheuser-Busch InBev of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of SABMiller;
• Advising China Investment Corporation on its acquisition of a 25% interest in Shanduka Group;
• Advising Puma Energy on its acquisition of a majority shareholding interest in Sakunda Petroleum in Zimbabwe;
• Advising Fountainhead Property Trust on its disposal of all of its assets and liabilities to Redefine;
• Advising on the M&A aspects of Alexander Forbes’s dual track (M&A and IPO) process which resulted in Alexander Forbes listing on the JSE;
• Advising VSNL SNO SPV, an affiliate of Tata Communications, on the disposal of shares in, and shareholder loan claims, against Neotel to Vodacom;
• Advising Apollo Global, Inc. in its acquisition of a controlling interest in Milpark Education Proprietary Limited;
• Advising Apollo Global, Inc. in the sale of its entire interest in Milpark Education to Stadio Holdings Limited and Brimstone Limited;
• Advising Laureate Education Inc. in relation to the sale of the education business from Monash South Africa Limited, its joint venture with Monash University, to ADvTECH;
• Advising Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited on its acquisition of the Moab Khotsong Mine, the Great Noligwa Mine and related infrastructure from AngloGold Ashanti.

• South Africa: Corporate Law Update
• Africa: M&A in Key Jurisdictions – Bowmans report on current trends published
• Practising Law Institute: Doing Business in and with Emerging Markets 2021: South African Chapter
• South Africa: B-BBEE – New practice note on discretionary collective enterprises
• COVID-19, South Africa’s prohibition on public gatherings and the impact on shareholder meetings