CDH advised on sale of South Africa's iconic news brands

Ensuring that the appropriate consents and confidentiality measures were in place, our corporate/M&A team advised Lebashe and Tiso Blackstar in respect of Lebashe's acquisition of Tiso Blackstar's South African media, broadcasting and content businesses and media, broadcasting and content businesses in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya from the Tiso Blackstar group. 

Lebashe, is a black-owned investment vehicle with a variety of interests within the technology and financial sectors. Tiso Blackstar is a global company with its roots in Africa, operating market-leading media, broadcast and retail marketing properties with a strong exposure to the rapidly growing digital, broadcast and mobile markets, a leading position in South Africa and a broad footprint across Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria.

This transaction has made Lebashe home to some of South Africa's most iconic news brands such as Sunday Times, the Sowetan, Business Day and Financial Mail. The transaction marks a significant shift in the South African media landscape by making Lebashe one of the two key players in the industry. In an industry which plays such a critical role in building and shaping the South African discourse, it is of great importance that such a large section thereof has become 100% black-owned. This transaction exemplifies the extraordinary potential of transformative deal-making. It is the culmination of years of hard work and patience on the part of Lebashe's black shareholders and will hopefully pave the way for the implementation of similar transformative deals in the future.