Dealmaking history was made last week when the third largest M&A deal in the world and the largest by far in South African corporate history closed on Monday (10 October 2016). Valued at approximately USD 108 billion, AB InBev’s acquisition of SABMiller has created the largest brewer in the world.

Ezra Davids, chairman of Bowmans Corporate/ M&A Department, says "We are proud of the work done by our multi-disciplinary team to assist SABMiller in this ground-breaking transaction with AB InBev. The fact that we were able to advise on both South African and African legal aspects confirms that our integrated approach to serving clients as one firm across the continent is delivering top-class results.”

The transaction was recently named Global M&A Deal of the Year by The American Lawyer. The Global Legal Awards honours law firms that played a substantial role in the most distinguished international work performed between 1 January 2015 and 15 April 2016.

Charles Douglas, head of Bowmans M&A Practice, says "Our team of M&A specialists working with our competition/ anti-trust, tax, employment and regulatory law (including BEE, exchange control and financial regulation) experts across our various offices in Africa is privileged to have advised on such a unique transaction.”

The news follows closely on the announcement of Bowmans new brand as well as three African Legal Award wins - Banking, Finance and Restructuring Team of the Year, Employment Team of the Year, and Property Team of the Year. The firm was also ‘highly commended’ in two other African Legal Award categories - African Law Firm of the Year and IP Team of the Year and has been named Africa Legal Adviser by DealMakers for the last two consecutive years (2014 and 2015) and South African Law Firm of the Year for 2016 by the Who’s Who Legal.