Leading South African law firm, Cox Yeats, was shortlisted for Business Rescue and Turnaround Transaction of the Year 2025 at the 2026 DealMakers Awards for its role in the Concor restructuring, a matter recognised for its execution complexity, stakeholder coordination, and commercially sustainable outcome. Concor is a construction, project development, and opencast mining services contractor.

The DealMakers Awards are among South Africa’s leading recognitions of excellence in corporate finance restructuring and turnaround transactions. Shortlisted transactions are evaluated by an independent panel against criteria including complexity, impact, value creation, and overall market contribution.

Gareth Cremen, Partner in the firm’s Business Rescue, Restructuring and Insolvency practice, led the Concor matter, supported by Senior Associate Steven Saunders. The team navigated significant commercial pressure and competing stakeholder interests within the framework of Chapter 6 of the Companies Act. The transaction demanded disciplined execution, careful negotiation, and alignment across creditors, management, practitioners and affected parties to secure a viable path forward.

Cox Yeats’ Business Rescue, Restructuring and Insolvency team combines legal precision with commercial clarity in moments of financial distress. Advising boards, creditors, business rescue practitioners, turnaround specialists, liquidators and listed companies, the team’s experience spans sectors including construction, retail, logistics, financial services, manufacturing and mining. Its approach is structured around three core phases of recovery -  Recover, Restructure and Resolve - enabling the delivery of integrated solutions ranging from informal workouts and business rescue proceedings to strategic restructuring, asset sales, insolvency and debt recovery.

While the firm did not take home the award this year, the shortlisting reflects the strength of its restructuring and turnaround capability and its continued role in complex, high-impact matters that preserve value and support long-term sustainability.

Congratulations to the winner in this category, Langeberg & Ashton Foods.

Cox Yeats remains committed to providing commercially grounded, technically rigorous advice to clients navigating financial distress, restructuring and insolvency challenges, and to supporting businesses in restoring stability and confidence in demanding circumstances.