Shawn van der Meulen

Practice Areas

Shawn specialises in competition law and has advised on merger control (with particular experience in private equity acquisitions and disposals), cartel and other prohibited practice investigations, exemption applications and compliance. He has acted for clients across various industries including agri-business, banking, beverages, chemicals, construction, FMCG, gambling, healthcare, information technology, mining, motor vehicle, printing, private equity, retail, steel and textiles. Shawn was a key member of the competition team acting for Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) in its 2016 acquisition of SABMiller, which required a number of competition filings and approvals across Africa, and in AB InBev's subsequent disposal of SABMiller's interests in Distell to the Public Investment Corporation. In 2015, Shawn was responsible for competition merger notifications in three out of the four transactions nominated for the DealMakers' Private Equity Deal of the Year award, including the winning transaction (Ethos Private Equity's disposal of Plumblink (Pty) Ltd to Bidvest Ltd). Outside of South Africa, Shawn has prepared merger notifications for multi-jurisdictional African mergers to the COMESA Competition Commission, as well as competition regulators in Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Career

Shawn's qualifications include:

Postgraduate Diploma in Economics for Competition Law, King's College, London, 2009

LLB, Rhodes University, 2004

BA, Rhodes University, 2002

Admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa