Overview
Charlie is recognised as a leading high-end M&A partner and very much considered in the market as one of our very top M&A practitioners. He has led on many of the market’s most significant mergers and acquisitions and capital raisings. Charlie is an expert in the global mining and metals sector and has over the last 15 years been the outstanding name in the sector.
Charlie has led on, and been a key figure in, a huge range of market-leading transactions. These include advising:
- SABMiller on the recommended US$108bn offer from Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest UK takeover and the third largest global M&A deal in history and SABMiller on the disposal of its stake in Tsogo Sun
- Glencore on the US$29bn merger with Xstrata, on the company’s US$7bn disposal of Las Bambas to an MMG consortium and on a US$10bn debt reduction
- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China on the US$5.5bn acquisition of a strategic stake in South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, the largest-ever outbound foreign direct investment by a Chinese company
- The London listings of Metro Bank, CMC, Glencore, Essar Energy, African Barrick Gold, Hochschild Mining, Ferrexpo, Kazakhmys, Xstrata, Vedanta Resources, BHP Billiton, Computacenter, SABMiller and the JSE listing of Glencore
- Absa Group on the US$2.1bn combination of the majority of Barclays African operations
- Zain on the US$10.7bn sale of its African mobile phone business to Bharti
- Gold Fields on its successful defence from Harmony’s US$8bn takeover
- Sappi on its US$750 million acquisition of M-Real
- Terra Firma Capital Partners and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management on the disposal of Autobahn Tank & Rast
- Various equity and convertible deals for Aquarius Platinum, Waco and Implats
Professional experience
Charlie is a non-executive director and Senior Independent Director of FTSE 100 Fresnillo PLC and a non-executive director of FTSE 250 Investec PLC and Investec Ltd and sits on both their remuneration committees.
Education and qualifications
Charlie is a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales and holds an LLB from Leicester University and went to school at St John’s College in Johannesburg.
