Kayla Abrahams
Senior Associate | Cape Town
Contact
T: +27 21 480 7857
E: kayla.abrahams@bowmanslaw.com
Overview
Kayla Abrahams is a senior associate in the Bowmans Cape Town office and a member of the Competition Practice.
She has been involved in various competition and merger control competition matters across a broad range of business sectors and industries. Kayla has experience in both South African merger control, as well as other African jurisdictions, such as COMESA, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania and WAEMU.
Kayla is highly regarded within her team as being solution-oriented and for her pragmatic approach to dealing with issues which arise when dealing with multiple regulators across the continent. She is diplomatic and effective in her engagements with both South African and other African competition regulators.
Experience
Since joining the Competition Practice Group as an associate in 2021, Kayla has worked on a number of complex and/or multi-jurisdiction mergers. Highlights of the notable matters in respect of which Kayla has assisted include advising:
- Hitachi Rail, Limited in its proposed acquisition of the Ground Transportation Systems Business of Thales SA, for an enterprise value of EUR 1.66 billion. Bowmans is representing the parties before the South African and COMESA competition authorities.
- Vitol Group in respect of the African competition law aspects of the acquisition of control of UK listed entity, Vivo Energy plc. Kayla assisted with the competition notifications in COMESA, South Africa and WAEMU.
- P. Moller – Maersk A/S in respect of its acquisition of Senator International (an internationally operating freight forwarder).
- Robert Bosch GmbH in the South African Competition Commission’s investigation into the automotive components sector.
- Elliott Investment Management L.P. in respect of South African competition clearance required for the joint acquisition of Citrix (a cloud computing and virtualisation technology company) and TIBCO.
- An affiliate of funds advised and/or managed by affiliates of Blackstone, Inc. in respect of its acquisition of a majority stake in VFS Global (international provider of visa outsourcing services).
- An affiliate of SK Capital Partners, L.P. in respect of the acquisition of the pigments business of Clariant AG by a consortium comprising SK Capital Partners’ affiliate and the Heubach Group.
- Volkswagen in respect of the required competition approvals for the acquisition of joint control (together with Trinity Investments) of Europcar Mobility Group S.A.
- JAS Worldwide Omni-Channel, LLC in respect of the African competition law aspects of its acquisition of Tigers Ltd (a company operating internationally, in the freight forwarding and supply chain management space).
- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in respect of its proposed acquisition of Qiagen N.V.
- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in respect of the African competition law aspects of the ‘merger of equals’ with Peugeot owner, Groupe PSA.
Awards
- Legal 500 ranked Kayla as a Rising Star for her work in Competition (2024).
- African Legal Awards shortlisted Kayla in the Private Practice Most Promising Newcomer Award category (2022).
AREA OF EXPERTISE
Qualifications
- BCom LLB from the University of Cape Town.
Overview
Kayla Abrahams is a senior associate in the Bowmans Cape Town office and a member of the Competition Practice.
She has been involved in various competition and merger control competition matters across a broad range of business sectors and industries. Kayla has experience in both South African merger control, as well as other African jurisdictions, such as COMESA, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania and WAEMU.
Kayla is highly regarded within her team as being solution-oriented and for her pragmatic approach to dealing with issues which arise when dealing with multiple regulators across the continent. She is diplomatic and effective in her engagements with both South African and other African competition regulators.
Experience
Since joining the Competition Practice Group as an associate in 2021, Kayla has worked on a number of complex and/or multi-jurisdiction mergers. Highlights of the notable matters in respect of which Kayla has assisted include advising:
- Hitachi Rail, Limited in its proposed acquisition of the Ground Transportation Systems Business of Thales SA, for an enterprise value of EUR 1.66 billion. Bowmans is representing the parties before the South African and COMESA competition authorities.
- Vitol Group in respect of the African competition law aspects of the acquisition of control of UK listed entity, Vivo Energy plc. Kayla assisted with the competition notifications in COMESA, South Africa and WAEMU.
- P. Moller – Maersk A/S in respect of its acquisition of Senator International (an internationally operating freight forwarder).
- Robert Bosch GmbH in the South African Competition Commission’s investigation into the automotive components sector.
- Elliott Investment Management L.P. in respect of South African competition clearance required for the joint acquisition of Citrix (a cloud computing and virtualisation technology company) and TIBCO.
- An affiliate of funds advised and/or managed by affiliates of Blackstone, Inc. in respect of its acquisition of a majority stake in VFS Global (international provider of visa outsourcing services).
- An affiliate of SK Capital Partners, L.P. in respect of the acquisition of the pigments business of Clariant AG by a consortium comprising SK Capital Partners’ affiliate and the Heubach Group.
- Volkswagen in respect of the required competition approvals for the acquisition of joint control (together with Trinity Investments) of Europcar Mobility Group S.A.
- JAS Worldwide Omni-Channel, LLC in respect of the African competition law aspects of its acquisition of Tigers Ltd (a company operating internationally, in the freight forwarding and supply chain management space).
- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in respect of its proposed acquisition of Qiagen N.V.
- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in respect of the African competition law aspects of the ‘merger of equals’ with Peugeot owner, Groupe PSA.
Awards
- Legal 500 ranked Kayla as a Rising Star for her work in Competition (2024).
- African Legal Awards shortlisted Kayla in the Private Practice Most Promising Newcomer Award category (2022).
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