Andile Nikani is the Chief Executive Officer of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) and a highly experienced corporate lawyer, regulator and dispute resolution practitioner with more than 25 years of legal and regulatory experience.

He is the former Executive Head of South Africa’s Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP), the statutory regulator responsible for overseeing affected transactions and mergers and acquisitions under the Companies Act and Takeover Regulations. In this role, he exercised extensive regulatory powers and was directly involved in the interpretation and practical application of South Africa’s takeover regulatory framework.

During his tenure at the TRP, Andile delivered numerous rulings and regulatory decisions involving complex mergers and acquisitions, shareholder rights, corporate governance and regulated transactions. His experience includes significant and precedent-setting matters involving Mediclinic International and Remgro, Sovereign Food Investments and Country Bird Holdings, Caxton and CTP Publishers and Printers, and Northam Platinum and Royal Bafokeng Platinum, among others.

His expertise extends across the full lifecycle of affected transactions, including transaction structuring, mandatory and general offers, schemes of arrangement, hostile takeovers, frustrating actions, independent boards and independent experts, market communications, offer implementation, exemptions, enforcement and regulatory compliance.

Andile has also contributed to the development of South African company law through his service on the Specialist Committee on Company Law and has extensive international regulatory exposure. He served as a visiting regulator with both the UK Takeover Panel and Hong Kong Takeover Panel, strengthening his understanding of international takeover regulation, corporate governance and regulatory practice.

His professional experience combines corporate law, M&A regulation, corporate strategy, governance, risk management, arbitration and mediation. Before his regulatory career, he practised in leading South African law firms, including Bowman Gilfillan, and spent 13 years as a partner and Head of Department at Fluxmans.

Andile holds a BA and LLB from the University of Cape Town, an LLM from the University of Liverpool and an MPhil in Corporate Strategy from GIBS, University of Pretoria. He is also a doctoral candidate at the University of Pretoria, with research focused on mergers and acquisitions as a strategy for growth.

As presenter of the Advanced Programme on South African Takeover Regulations, Andile brings a distinctive practitioner and former regulator perspective to the learning experience. Drawing on significant transactions, regulatory decisions, case law and his first-hand experience of the TRP, he provides participants with practical insight into not only what the Takeover Regulations require, but how they are interpreted and applied in complex corporate transactions.