MORE ABOUT
JEAN
Jean Milner spent 15 years at Webber Wentzel in Johannesburg, where she was a partner from 2003 – 2019. Prior to this, she worked in the United States for a large international law firm.
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As an equity partner in Webber Wentzel’s corporate legal team, Jean acted for a breadth of companies in a range of sectors in relation to their M&A activity in South Africa and across Africa. Specifically, Jean advised both foreign and local entities in relation to their investments and governance.
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Jean graduated with BA LLB degrees from The University of Cape Town, an LLM from The American University in Washington, DC and an LLM from the University of Pretoria. She is admitted to practice in South Africa, New York and the District of Columbia.
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As an equity partner at Webber Wentzel, Jean was included in both the 2018 and 2019 Best Lawyers Business Edition in South Africa for Mergers & Acquisitions.
Highlights during Jean’s time at Webber Wentzel include:
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Acting for the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China in its ZAR 37billion acquisition of 20% of The Standard Bank of South Africa. I managed all aspects of the transaction which, at the time, was the largest foreign direct investment outside of China by a Chinese company and the largest foreign investment in South Africa.
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Acting for Absa Bank in the sale of its custody and trustee businesses to Standard Chartered Bank. The transaction was the first of its kind in South Africa and involved the transfer of approximately ZAR 1 trillion in assets.
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Acting for Absa Bank in its ZAR 18 million acquisition of nine African subsidiaries from Barclays Bank. I managed the due diligence on the Barclays’ entities and the negotiation and drafting of the agreements regulating the services frameworks to apply between Absa and Barclays after completion.
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Acting for Mercer Africa on its acquisition of a 34% stake in South Africa-based Alexander Forbes for approximately ZAR 3 billion.
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Advising Danone Clover in its acquisition of 70% of the issued shares in Mayo Dairy.
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Drafting distribution agreements for Danone Southern Africa (DSA) in relation to various southern African jurisdictions.
MORE ABOUT
JESSICA
Jessica Blignaut is a former Senior Associate in corporate law at Webber Wentzel. Before that, she practiced at Bowmans.
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In Webber Wentzel’s corporate legal team, Jessica worked on a variety of transactions for both listed and unlisted companies, involving the drafting of transaction agreements and managing of due diligence investigations across multiple jurisdictions. Jessica also assisted in drafting opinions on compliance with the Companies Act and provided advice on various corporate governance matters.
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Jessica graduated with a BA (Hons), LLB and LLM from the University of Cape Town and is admitted to practice in South Africa.
Highlights during Jessica’s time at Webber Wentzel include:
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Acting for African Rainbow Capital Pty Ltd in its acquisition of all the remaining shares in Commonwealth Bank of South Africa.
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Acting for African Rainbow Capital Pty Ltd in the establishment of African Rainbow Capital Investment Ltd as the Mauritian holding company of the ARC group and its listing and offer on the JSE as an empowered permanent capital vehicle.
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Acting for Consol Glass in respect of Sphere Investments Pty Ltd's acquisition of 100% of the shares and claims held by Capital International Private Equity Fund IV L.P. and Capital Group Private Equity Fund IV L.P in Consol Holdings Pty Ltd and in respect of Sphere Investments Pty Ltd's subsequent subscription for shares in Consol Holdings Pty Ltd.