BlackLeaf
Architects behind enduring family and corporate wealth.
Analysis, deal commentary and regulatory updates from the BlackLeaf team, and practical guides you can keep. Search, filter by topic and save what you want to come back to.
Control of a South African company is secured by hierarchy, drafting and board discipline. How the MOI sits inside the Companies Act, and what that means for family assets and institutional capital.
BlackLeaf Insights · 8 September 2026A R1.8 billion financing from the EIB, IFC and European Commission will build Africa’s first end-to-end multi-vaccine manufacturing facility in Cape Town.
Talita Clarke · 10 May 2026South Africa’s largest independent chocolate manufacturer enters liquidation after a dispute with its anchor client ended a long-standing supply agreement.
Talita Clarke · 27 April 2026Germany pledges R8.9 billion to South Africa’s low-carbon transition: a concessional climate loan, a finance facility and a critical raw materials prize.
Talita Clarke · 14 April 2026Sysco will acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot, built by South African-born Natie Kirsh, for about $29.1 billion at 14 times operating income.
Talita Clarke · 29 March 2026Woolworths takes full ownership of its 30-year supplier In2food, and Varun Beverages buys Crickley Dairy through its South African subsidiary.
Talita Clarke · 24 March 2026RSS feed for your reader
A weekly read on the South African deals reshaping business: who bought what, at what multiple, and what it signals for owners, boards and investors. 8 editions so far.
Longer, practical guides as PDFs, free to read online or download. Each one is written to be worked through with your board and advisers.
A practical guide for owners, boards and investors considering a sale, an acquisition, a management buyout or a merger. It sets out what to settle, fix and prepare, in the order a transaction actually runs.
Settle the aim, and who has to agree.
A self-score out of 16, and where to start.
Twelve essentials buyers test first.
Four methods, and what moves the price.
Full sale, partial sale, earn-out, swap, buyout.
Teaser, memorandum and a seven-folder index.
Dimensions, tactics and a term sheet checklist.
South African points to confirm early.
Preparation to completion, with outputs.
Practical, plain-language guides from the people who run the mandates. Each is a PDF you can keep, share with your board, and work through with your advisers.
Valuation methods, normalising earnings, and the factors that move value, with worked examples.
Control, deadlock, exits, drag and tag rights, and succession, in plain language.
Hub-and-spoke structures, and how to separate asset-holding companies from trading risk.
What lenders and investors test in a plan and a financial model.
The capital stack, which instrument fits which business, and what credit committees test.
What goes into a financier-ready information memorandum, with a model structure.
A complete folder index and request list for due diligence.
How to approach banks, development finance institutions and private credit, and what each expects.
Monthly, twice-yearly, annual and event-driven filings for companies and trusts, with a template to date your own.
Trustee duties, record keeping and the errors we see most often.
What must be registered, who counts as a beneficial owner, and how to keep it current.
A charter outline, a council model and a decision-rights template.
Business and family succession, and the questions to settle first.
When a family needs a private office, and what running one involves.
Why files are declined on structure, the three phases of the BCRP, a severity scale and a sixteen-question self-check.
Briefings on advisory, capital, family office and succession. Select the topics that matter to you and we will send only those.
