Clara Hansen

Clara advises on all aspects of antitrust and competition law across a broad range of African jurisdictions. Her practice encompasses cross-border merger control, restrictive trade practices, competition compliance programs, cartel investigations and leniency applications, abuse of dominance matters, and foreign investment review. She regularly assists multinational corporations in navigating complex regulatory frameworks and obtaining competition law clearances for strategic transactions across the continent.

Clara has extensive experience advising and representing leading multinational and blue-chip companies on high-value and complex domestic and cross-border transactions. In addition to merger control matters, she counsels clients on a wide range of contentious competition law issues, including cartel conduct, abuse of dominance, vertical restraints, market inquiries, and regulatory investigations, providing commercially focused and practical solutions to complex antitrust risks.

Clara regularly represents clients before competition and investment regulators throughout Africa, including authorities in South Africa, Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. She also advises on matters before key regional competition bodies, including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), coordinating multi-jurisdictional filings and regulatory strategies across numerous jurisdictions.

Clara advises clients operating across a diverse range of industries, including pharmaceuticals and life sciences, technology and telecommunications, financial services, mining and natural resources, manufacturing, infrastructure, and construction.

Antitrust & Competition

• Advised Marubeni Corporation, a major Japanese integrated trading and investment business conglomerate, on its strategic acquisition of a 30% interest in Phillips Healthcare Corporation (Phillips Pharma), a leading distributor of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics equipment across sub-Saharan Africa with operations in Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, UAE, Uganda and Zambia.
• Advised Shell Downstream South Africa Proprietary Limited (SDSA) and bp Southern Africa Proprietary Limited (bpSA) as shareholders of South African Petroleum Refineries Proprietary Limited (SAPREF) owning 100% of the issued shares of their joint venture company, SAPREF, in the disposal of its assets and liabilities in respect of the SAPREF refinery, including the interests of SDSA and bpSA in the SAPREF land, the crude and finished product tanks, process units, pipelines and the Single Buoy Mooring for crude imports to the Central Energy Fund SOC Limited.
• Advised Bidvest Branded Products Holdings Proprietary Limited, a division of JSE-listed The Bidvest Group Limited, on the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Roan Systems Proprietary Limited, The Printer Distribution Company Proprietary Limited, Roan Safety Products Proprietary Limited and Channel Label Solutions Proprietary Limited as indivisible transaction, which included conducting a due diligence investigation, preparing a due diligence report and drafting the sale and purchase agreement and applicable resolutions, and obtaining merger clearance in South Africa.
• Advised Blantyre Capital on successfully obtaining merger clearance in South Africa on its acquisition of control over Dynamic Commodities.
• Advised Chr Hansen Holding A/S on the African merger control aspects of the merger between Novozymes A/S and Chr Hansen Holding, a statutory merger implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Danish Companies Act.
• Advised and assisted Sika AG in relation to its high-profile acquisition of chemical admixture and chemical construction systems provider, MBCC Group, in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The transaction had a deal value of EUR 5.2 billion.

• Law Society of South Africa 
• Association of Competition Law Practitioners of South Africa