Webber Wentzel has featured prominently in the IFLR1000 Financial and Corporate Guide 2017 - maintaining its top tier status in all the researched practice areas, including Banking, Capital Markets, Competition, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Project Finance.

The firm once again emerged as a trailblazer, being among the top two South African law firms to achieve tier 1 rankings in every area under review. This makes Webber Wentzel the only law firm to have maintained tier 1 rankings across the board for three consecutive years.

Also noteworthy is that the firm has the most ranked lawyers in South Africa, with 18 of its practitioners listed by the survey as 'leading lawyers' and three as 'rising stars' in their respective practice areas.

"IFLR rankings reflect the opinions of clients and competitors, which constitutes a tremendous vote of confidence in the abilities of our expert teams," says Senior Partner at Webber Wentzel, Christo Els.

“Our clients have highlighted our attention to detail, intimate knowledge and communication as what sets us apart, while others describe the firm as highly efficient and cost effective, all of which are compliments that reinforce our commitment to placing our clients at the heart of everything we do,” says Els.

He adds, “We owe our success to the exceptional teams within the firm that represent a great balance of skills and a diversity of experience.  We pride ourselves in the high levels of professionalism and commitment that underpins the work ethic of our ranked teams, which  is reinforced by the 21 rankings that Webber Wentzel received.”

Webber Wentzel acted on several high profile mandates during the last 12 months, including advising on the African Bank restructuring throughout the period of the curatorship to help the embattled bank, the curator and other interested parties deliver what is a novel, very complex and highly bespoke resolution to the circumstances confronting the bank. During the process, the legal team encountered many new legal issues for which they had to find creative solutions in order for the restructuring to succeed.

Webber Wentzel also acted for AB InBev in connection with its inward listing on the JSE, the largest in the exchange’s history as well as AB InBev's acquisition of SABMiller, which was valued at over $100 billion and is amongst the top five largest M&A deals ever to take place, worldwide. The firm also acted on some of the most complex transactions of the year, such as Mediclinic's proposed merger with Al Noor Hospitals.

The IFLR1000’s Financial and Corporate Guide for 2017 is the result of a six-month, in-depth and independent research project comprised of interviews with partners at the world's leading law firms and surveys of 50,000 client references.

IFLR1000’s Financial and Corporate Guide 2017 features:

• More than 120 jurisdictions across the globe
• Over 2,200 ranked law firms
• Over 8,000 rated lawyers