Phemelo Paledi

I am an experienced Senior Associate having worked in London, United Kingdom for almost 5 years and have recently relocated back to South Africa. My experience includes Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity, Equity Capital Markets and Banking & Finance.

I am in search of a great opportunity to work in the corporate team of a really good firm as I am of the view that my exceptional experience can add value to any transactional team.

Senior Associate at Alchemy Law (2026-06 – Present)

• Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions
• Advised Ascension Capital Partners Proprietary Limited (acting on behalf of Ascension Fund No. 12 LLP, Ascension Fund No. 13 LLP and Ascension Fund No. 14 LLP as the general partner of Ascension Fund No. 12 LLP, Ascension Fund No. 13 LLP and Ascension Fund No. 14 LLP) on the exercise of the funds’ put options against DRA Group Holdings Proprietary Limited and DRA South Africa Group Holdings Proprietary Limited in order to exit their investment in those entities to the value of R404 million
• Advised Mazi Global Proprietary Limited on its shareholder restructuring and minority equity investment from Doorzetten Proprieatary Limited
• Advised a consortium of shareholders on the sale of their collective 51% stake in the issued share capital of Blitz Detect Limited to Ubimet GmbH
• Advised Bidvest Group Limited on the acquisition of a minority stake from CW Travel Holdings, N.V. in the issued share capital of Quadrel Travel Management Proprietary Limited
• Banking & Finance
• Advised Glencore Operations South Africa Proprietary Limited (as lender) on its amended and restated term loan facility agreement to advance R50 million to Mokala Manganese Proprietary Limited (as borrower) for the prospecting of manganese ore and the development and operation of a manganese mining project
• Advised Seloxium Limited (as lender) on the advancement of a secured term loan facility agreement to advance up to R400,000 to Kensington Minerals proprietary Limited for the establishment and operation of a gold tailings refining and processing facility

Associate at Crowell & Moring U.K. LLP (2022-08 – 2026-05)

• Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions
• Advised Open Text Corporation on its $6.2 billion acquisition financing of Micro Focus International plc
• Advised Open Text Corporation on its post - acquisition financial and shareholder reorganization
• Advised Open Text Corporation on its $5 billion financial reorganization
• Advised Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Limited on its £62 million minority equity disposal to Spectrum Equity
• Advised Mitratech Holdings LLC on its acquisition of a document creation and management business from Abacus Data Systems, Inc
• Advised Nippon Molymer Co Ltd on its acquisition of a resin molding business from Maxell Europe Limited
• Advised Smart Transactions Group Limited on the sale of its wholly owned subsidiaries, Squidcard Limited and Squid Payment Services Limited, to ParentPay Group Limited
• Advised Net Zero Infrastructure PLC (SPAC) on its proposed acquisition of Taylor Construction Plant Limited
• Advised Net Zero Infrastructure PLC (SPAC) on its proposed acquisition of Line Hydrogen (Australia) Pty Ltd CAN
• Advised Total Management Holding Ltd on its acquisition of a minority equity stake in Total Management UK Ltd
• Advised Cubitt Limited on its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of PBS Brand Agency Limited
• Advised Altalix Limited on the sale of its entire issued share capital to Clear Junction Holding Limited for the sum of £2.3 million
• Advised Celoxica Holdings PLC on its take-private transaction and shareholder reorganization
• Advised Celoxica Holdings PLC on its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Raptor Financial Technologies Co. Ltd
• Advised Bedruthan Limited on its joint venture with JGM Management Limited
• Advised PETRA Group Holdings Limited on its £15 million debt financing of Kirker Greer Holdings Limited
• Advised Awhina Limited on its shareholder and debt restructure
• Advised Terium Capital Markets Ltd on its debt facility arrangements
• Advised Nexcus International on its corporate reorganization
• Advised Navigate CIO on its template commercial contracts
• Advised Claroo Limited on its commercial contracts
• Advised InCommon Foundation on preparing its standard terms and conditions
• Advised True Cadence CIC on its template commercial contracts
• Advised Disarm Foundation CIC on its commercial contracts
• Advised Ticker Logic Co., Ltd on the $2 million series seed preferred share financing of LumiTerra by Makers Web 3 Fund I Limited
• Advised Kani Payments Holdings Limited on its £3,5 million equity fundraising from NPIF-II NE Equity and the Maven Venture Capital Trusts
• Advised Jellagen Limited on its £6 million equity fundraising
• Advised Health Medical Bank Limited on its £350,000 equity fundraising from various investors
• Advised Acre 114 Limited on its convertible loan equity conversion
• Advised Electric Aviation Group on a series of equity fundraisings
• Advised PLIM Limited on a series of its equity fundraisings
• Advised Hive Corporation Limited on its equity fundraising and shareholder reorganization
• Advised Equilibrium Labs (UK) Limited on its equity fundraising
• Banking & Finance
• Advised BZ Commercial Finance DAC (as lender) on the advancement of revolving asset-based facilities in the sum of £36 million to Carclo PLC and its subsidiaries in the UK, Czech Republic, US, France and the Netherlands. The facilities were advanced to refinance the existing term loan revolving credit facilities previously advanced by HSBC Bank PLC.
• Advised Hilco Capital Ltd (as lender) on the advancement of asset-based lending facilities to Enablelink Limited in the sum of £20 million in order to finance the acquisition by Enablelink Limited of the entire issued share capital of Nelson Lawrence Holdings Limited. The facilities were advanced against real estate, receivables and plant and machinery.
• Advised Signature Entertainment Limited (as borrower) on its $5 million credit facility with East West Bank

Associate at White & Case LLP (2021-10 – 2022-06)

• Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity
• Advised Triton on its £1.3 billion all cash acquisition of Clinigen Group plc, through a company indirectly owned by the Triton Funds
• Advised LGT Group Limited on its proposed acquisition of London and Capital Group Limited
• Advised Nordic Capital on its £297 million acquisition of CARE Fertility Holdings Limited by an affiliate of funds managed or advised by Nordic Capital
• Advised Development Partners International on its $75 million investment in Tawfeer for Foods Products (Kazyon) S.A.E
• Advised ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Limited on its $40 million phase 3 equity fundraising in CrossBoundary Energy Holdings Limited
• Advised Regnology Group GmbH on its acquisition of the Tax Information Reporting software business from PwC UK in the sum of £8 million

Corporate Finance Executive at Java Capital (2017-02 – 2019-05)

Java Capital is an independent corporate finance, M&A and equity capital markets boutique firm in South Africa providing advisory and transaction implementation services to both listed and unlisted companies.

It is highly active in the following areas: corporate restructures and corporate finance activities, mergers, acquisitions and disposals, stock exchange listings, property investments vehicles (including REITs) and black economic empowerment. My role at Java Capital was on the transaction advisory and execution side and included the execution of listings on the JSE and other stock exchanges, drafting regulatory documentation and ensuring regulatory compliance.

• Corporate Real Estate and General Sponsor-Related Functions
• Advised NEPI Rockcastle on its listing on the Main Board of the JSE and Euronext Amsterdam, making NEPI Rockcastle the largest property company listed on the Main Board of the JSE. The transaction was worth ZAR 95.26 billion and was nominated in the 2016/2017 Dealmakers “Deal of the year” category
• Advised Castleview on its listing on the AltX of the JSE
• Advised Hystead on its proposed dual primary listing on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and the Main Board of the JSE
• Advised Atterbury on the proposed listing of its subsidiary, Etumba Property Fund Limited, on the “Financial – Real Estate” sector on the Main Board of the Namibian Stock Exchange
• Advised Old Mutual on the proposed listing of its subsidiary, Milstone Real Estate Limited, on the “Retail REITs” sector of the Main Board of the JSE
• Advised Sandown Capital Limited on its related party transaction and the revision of its investment policy
• Advised Extract Limited on its delisting on the Main Board of the JSE
• Drafting category 1 and category 2 Stock Exchange News Service (“SENS”) transaction announcements
• Monitoring of JSE, CIPC and South African Reserve Bank approval process and share register management and general corporate governance advisory
• Managing and directing the entire scrip dividend/dividend reinvestment process for our clients. This includes drafting all circulars, timetables, SENS announcements board resolutions and JSE listings applications
• Liaising with boards, auditors, JSE, CIPC, legal advisors, transfer secretaries, corporate finance and equity capital markets teams, Strate, Takeover Regulations Panel and exchange control agents
• General continuing obligations advice

Candidate Attorney at Werksmans Attorneys (2015-01 – 2017-01)

Werksmans is a pre-eminent corporate and commercial law firm in South Africa. My role at Werksmans was as a candidate attorney and I provided transaction support to my seniors on all matters including, performing due diligence investigations, advising on corporate governance matters and reviewing transaction documents.

LLB in Law – University of Johannesburg (2014)

Matric / National Senior Certificate – Charlton Vos College of Education (2009)