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Richardt (Rick) van Rensburg is an Executive in the Competition / Antitrust practice at ENS.

He has 18 years of experience as an African competition law specialist and consistently advises on some of the most high-profile and complex competition law matters on the continent.

He has deep rooted expertise across the entire breadth of antitrust regulation in South Africa, from prohibited practices (including cartel conduct, damages claims and corporate leniency applications, restrictive vertical practices and abuse of dominance) to merger regulation (including contested mergers, hostile takeover bids and negotiated conditional approvals). He is also at the forefront of developments in South African competition law jurisprudence including the Competition Amendment Act.

Richardt is an expert in all competition law aspects of local and international private equity acquisitions and disposals.  A key feature of Richardt’s practice is his ability to manage the African component of large multijurisdictional mergers for private equity and venture capital firms. Thereby providing these clients  with a “one stop shop” which seamlessly facilitates the interaction between the merging parties, various regulators and recommended local counsel. Consequently, he has an unrivalled understanding of the merger control and antitrust landscape in Africa and closely monitors any developments in this regard. He has previously advised clients in relation to most operational African antitrust regimes including –  Botswana,  CEMAC  COMESA (and its 21 Member States) DRC, eSwatini, Kenya,  Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, WAEMU, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Richardt’s in-depth knowledge of competition law led to him being selected as a contributing editor of Butterworth’s Competition Law Reports and being published in respected law publications such as Without Prejudice. He has also been invited to be a speaker at antitrust conferences such as the Annual Competition Law, Economics and Policy Conference and, given his experience in the private equity sector, has presented to forums such as the Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.

Richardt is a competition law lecturer at Nelson Mandela University.

Richardt is recognised as a leading/recommended lawyer by: 

• Best Lawyers® 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 - Competition/Anti-trust Law (South Africa)
• Who’s Who Legal 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 (South Africa)