Tag Archives: Baker McKenzie

African dealmaking decreases, the Africa’s Free Trade Agreement expected to boost recovery

Dealmaking activity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) dropped in the second half of 2020 (H2 2020), when compared to the second half of 2019 (H2 2019) and year-on-year, deals were also down in both volume and value when compared to 2019. According to Baker McKenzie’s analysis of Refinitiv data, M&A transactions dropped in SSA in H2 […]

Commitment to sustainability opening doors to post-pandemic capital in Africa

City centre of Cape Town in South Africa. View from the nearby mountain Lion’s Head. Photo Credit Wikipedia

By Wildu du Plessis, Head of Africa, Baker McKenzie The industrials, manufacturing and transport (IMT) sector is being hit hard by COVID-19 disruption, but commitment to sustainability could very well lead the sector to recovery. This is according to Baker McKenzie’s report “Sustainable Success: Exploring environmental, social and governance priorities for industrials through COVID-19 and beyond” which […]

The impact of COVID-19 on finance and investment in Africa

An illustration created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the structure of the coronavirus now named COVID-19. Source: ScienceSource.com

By Morne van der Merwe, Managing Partner, and Wildu du Plessis, Head of Africa, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has resulted in mass production shutdowns and supply chain disruptions due to port closures in China, causing global ripple effects across all economic sectors in a rare “twin supply-demand shock”. With South Africa having just […]

Investing in Africa: An Outlook on Nigeria and Ethiopia

Africa-regions. Source: Wikipedia

Itumeleng Mukhovha, an associate in the Corporate/M&A practice at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg One can easily assume that international investors are deterred from investing in Africa given the growing need to weather a global financial crisis, which has been distorted by Brexit, rising geopolitical tensions, tightened global liquidity conditions, leveraged loans and sketchy debts that […]