Simon Mateus
Biography
Simon Mateus is an associate and notary in Baker McKenzie’s Corporate M&A Practice Group in Johannesburg.
He routinely assists in matters involving public and private mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganisations, private equity, and corporate governance acquisitions across multiple industry sectors.
His experience includes advising on complex and cross-border M&A deals, from corporate vendor due diligence investigations to post-implementation as well as drafting and negotiating various commercial agreements/documents.
Representative Legal Matters
- Advised Norfund on its USD 75 million (over ZAR1 billion) investment into Mulilo, a renewable energy developer and strategic equity investor with a focus in wind and solar PV technologies and expanding in the South African renewable energy market.
- Advised A Consortium comprising of Ashton Fruit Producers Co-operative and a development finance institution on the acquisition of the Langeberg & Ashton Foods business from Tiger Brands Limited.
- Advised Bystronic Laser AG on the restructuring and sale of its South African subsidiary, resulting in the establishment of Cutronic (Pty) Ltd as the exclusive dealer for Bystronic and DNE Laser products in Southern Africa.
- Advised Ascendis Health Limited on its successful delisting from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
- Assisted a multinational data centre service provider in relation to the acquisition and development of certain data centres in South Africa.
- Advised Marubeni Corporation, a major Japanese integrated trading and investment business conglomerate, on its investment in Phillips Pharma Group, one of the largest importers, marketeers and distributors of pharmaceuticals, medical and surgical devices in sub-Saharan Africa with offices and warehouses in 9 African jurisdictions being Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, UAE and Uganda.
- Advised RCL Foods Limited on the disposal of 100% of its shares in Vector Logistics Proprietary Limited to EMIF II Investment (Pty) Ltd, a South African investment vehicle ultimately wholly-owned by AP Møller Capital – Emerging Markets Infrastructure Fund II K/S, valued at ZAR 1.25 billion. This deal was shortlisted for Private Equity Deal of the Year by DealMakers 2023 and Private Equity Deal of the Year by IFLR Africa 2024.
- Represented Royal Bafokeng Holdings, a key shareholder in Towerco Bidco Proprietary Limited, in respect of its acquisition of Telkom’s masts and towers business, housed in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Swiftnet SOC Limited. We were awarded TMT Team of the Year by African Legal Awards 2024 in recognition of our work on this matter. It was also shortlisted for the Catalyst Private Equity Deal of the Year by DealMakers 2024.
- Advised Sika AG (a Swiss multinational specialty chemical company) on the African merger control aspects of its acquisition of MBCC Group (a leading multinational construction chemicals and solutions company) from an affiliate of Lone Star Funds, valued at USD 5.2 billion.
- Advised The Bidvest Group Limited in relation to its acquisition of the WearCheck Group from private equity sellers.
- Advised ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc on the African merger control aspects of its disposal of a 51% interest in Mopani Copper Mines plc, in a strategic transaction for Zambia's copper mining industry, valued at USD 1.1 billion.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Legal Practice Council of South Africa
Admissions
- South Africa (2025)
Education
- University of Pretoria (LLM, cum laude) (2021)
- University of Pretoria (LLB, cum laude) (2020)
Languages
- English
- Portuguese
- Tswana
- Zulu