Contact details

Email: pj.hope@lhcadvisory.com

Mobile: +27 (0) 82 461 4023

Principal areas of practice

Mergers and acquisitions
Public market transactions
General corporate and commercial law
Private equity
Competition law

Years of work experience post qualification

25 years of professional experience.

Independent Accolades

Ranked by Chambers in Band 3 for Corporate M&A

Summary profile

PJ is a founder and director of virtual legal advisory firm LHC Advisory.
Until 30 June 2020 PJ was a Partner in the PwC Legal team, based in Johannesburg
PJ was a founding partner in the firm Read Hope Phillips, the forerunner of PwC Legal South Africa.
Prior to establishing Read Hope Phillips, PJ was a director of Brait Advisory Services, a division of Brait, and before that partner in the firm Rabin van den Berg & Pelkowitz Attorneys.

TMT experience

In the telecommunications, media and technology arena, PJ advised a number of local and international clients on the evolving telecommunications regime in South Africa including Sprint/GlobalOne, MultiChoice, Orbicom, and Internet Solutions. PJ has provided advice to the regulator in South Africa, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, regarding aspects of its telecommunications jurisdiction.

PJ advised the MultiChoice group over more than a decade in relation to their satellite capacity agreements with a range of satellite operators including PanAmSat, IntelSat and EutelSat, including securing “anchor tenant” role on satellites purpose-built for the African footprint required by MultiChoice and its affiliates.

PJ’s TMT experience also includes:

• advising the Multichoice Group on a range of corporate transactions including (i) MultiChoice’s planned participation in the West Africa Cable Consortium and (ii) the sale to MTN Group Limited of all the shares in licensed signal distributor Orbicom;
• represented Capital Partners in the privatisation of the radio stations Highveld and Jacaranda, and the disposal of Jacaranda to Kagiso Media;
• represented Warner Bros. in relation to their shareholding in eTV, their relationship with HCI, and disposal of that eTV stake;
• advising Brait Fund IV and related entities in relation to their investment in broadcasting group Primedia, including the acquisition in 2007 and the disposal thereof to a consortium comprising Ethos Private Equity, Ethos Capital and MMI Group Limited;
• represented MSG Afrika in successful applications for radio licences in Limpopo (Capricorn FM) and Gauteng (Power FM).

Public market (ECM) work

PJ was the lead legal advisor on the listing on the JSE Limited of Freeworld Coatings Limited as well as the listing of Adcock Ingram Holdings Limited.

PJ was the lead legal advisor to –

• Adcock Ingram Holdings Limited in relation to the takeover of Adcock Ingram which was contested between the Bidvest Group Limited and CFR Pharmaceuticals S.A.;
• Freeworld Coatings Limited in relation to separate unsolicited takeover bids by a consortium led by Brait and by Kansai Paint Co., Ltd.

PJ also acted as lead legal advisor on the following takeovers and delistings of public listed companies from the JSE – Excel Medical Holdings Limited (1998); Softline Limited (2002); Pepkor Limited (2004); MNet and Supersport (2004); Freeworld Coatings Limited (2011); Digicore Holdings Limited (2015); and also advised on the delisting of Cargo Carriers Limited (2018).

Recent transactions

PJ has been the lead legal advisor on the following transactions –

• advising on the acquisition by JSE-listed Metrofile of all the shares in G4S Secure Data Solutions (Kenya) Limited, the largest records management company in East Africa, in collaboration with PwC legal team in Nairobi;
• advising a leading South African private equity firm on the listing on the Australian ASX of a pan-African engineering firm;
• advising Brait Fund IV and related entities in relation to their investment in broadcasting group Primedia, including the acquisition in 2007 and the disposal thereof in late 2017 to a consortium comprising Ethos Private Equity, Ethos Capital and MMI Group Limited;
• advising funds advised by Development Partners International on various transactions including the acquisition of a facilities management group headquartered in Mauritius with a presence in 7 African countries including Zimbabwe;
• advising a major JSE-listed company in relation to an unsolicited takeover approach;
• advising AECI Limited on a Scheme of Arrangement and acquisition of treasury shares.

Key skills

• Negotiating deals and solutions for clients
• Drafting commercial contracts and corporate agreements
• Opinions on Companies Act and Takeover Regulations
• Advice on Companies Act and JSE Listings Requirements
• Strategic advice regarding regulated transactions
• Project management of large projects subject to deadlines

Publications

Financial Mail 2007: “The Best of Both Worlds” – article on the advantages of maintaining a listed instrument into a private equity investment
Financial Mail 2016: “Too much information” – article on the Zietsman case (insider trading)
Chambers & Partners Practice Guides: “Corporate M&A: South Africa” – chapter in the 2019 and 2020 Chambers & Partners Practice Guides on M&A in South Africa