Global elite legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has acted for Exxaro Resources Limited (Exxaro) in  its USD472million acquisition of Total Coal South Africa (Pty) Ltd (TCSA) from Total S.A.

On 25 July 2014 Exxaro entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Total S.A. to acquire 100 per cent of the issued share capital in TCSA.

Norton Rose Fulbright advised on all South African law aspects of the transaction, providing integrated advice across six practice areas – corporate, mining (regulatory), tax, competition, environmental and employment.

The team was co-led by Johannesburg based corporate directors, Kevin Cron and Georg Kahle, supported by Christina Pretorius and Loris Rech (due diligence and M&A), Prof. Michael Dale and Henri Nieuwoudt (mining regulatory), Dale Cridlan (tax), Marianne Wagener (competition), Tina Costas (environmental) and Hermann Nieuwoudt (employment).

Kevin Cron, head of corporate in South Africa, Norton Rose Fulbright commented:

“This transaction is likely to be one of the biggest mining deals in South Africa in 2014 and so I’m delighted that my team could provide assistance to Exxaro in what is a very strategic deal for them in the long term. I am particularly proud that it was concluded under great pressure in record time for a major transaction.”

Norton Rose Fulbright’s corporate practice was voted Corporate Team of the Year for 2013 in the annual African Legal Awards presented by Legal Week.