Kevin Cron
Head of Corporate, South Africa
Kevin Cron, Head of Corporate in South Africa, is a commercial lawyer based in Johannesburg. He is one of the most respected corporate lawyers in South Africa, having acted for well-known South African mining and industrial groups and for various South African and International Banks. He specialises in mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance work, general commercial and corporate work, tax and financial services. He also advises on related exchange control matters.
Kevin is regularly listed as a leading corporate and banking lawyer in IFLR, Who’s Who and Chambers Global. He has been referred to by Chambers Global 2012 with “strong commercial expertise and excellent experience”. The IFLR ranking refers to Kevin as a “well reputed individual practitioner who is noted by peers and clients as one of the top M&A lawyers”. Included in the ranking is a quote from a competitor being: “Cron is a brilliant M&A and all-round corporate lawyer.”
Kevin has extensive corporate experience and has been involved in major transactions in this field for 30 years. He advised Anglo Platinum on a R3.5 billion sale of a 50 per cent stake in the Booysendal Project and a 22 per cent stake in Northam Platinum to Mvelaphanda Resources. Other major deals include advising Barclays on the acquisition of its majority interest in Absa Group, valued at approximately R35 billion and also the sale by Barclays of eight of its banking businesses in Africa to Absa. He also advised Rio Tinto in relation to the corporate restructuring and BEE transaction in respect of Richards Bay Minerals, valued at over R17 billion.
Kevin has extensive experience in financial transactions and has represented financial institutions both locally and internationally including FirstRand, Standard Bank, Investec, Citigroup, Nedbank, Absa, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Guaranty, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and others. He has also acted for clients such as Anglo American, De Beers, Impala Platinum, Rio Tinto, Actis Private Equity, Ethos Private Equity, Exxaro, Kumba and other well-known South African corporations.
Kevin holds degrees in Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws (Tax) from the University of the Witwatersrand. He started his working career as a Candidate Attorney at the practice and was admitted as an attorney, notary, and conveyancer in January 1982. He is a member of the Law Societies of the Northern Provinces, Natal, and Cape Provinces and is a member of the company law committee of the council of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces.