7 major international companies exit South Africa in 2025
An extensive list of international companies across several industries exited South Africa in 2025.
These international companies span across finance, consulting, mining, data analytics, and other professional services.
They either fully exited or fundamentally wound down their South African operations in 2025.
The reasons for the exits differed from group to group, but ranged from global strategy shifts to reputational damage and capital allocation decisions.
The companies are:
- IG Group
- Bain & Co.
- Nielsen
- Anglo American
- HSBC Private Bank
- Jubilee
- Norton Rose Fulbright
One of the earliest exits came from IG Group, the London-based online trading provider, which announced in June that it would shut down its South African operations.
Founded in 1974 and valued at roughly £3.9 billion, IG specialises in spread betting and contracts for difference, allowing clients to speculate on the movement of financial assets without owning them.
The group entered South Africa in 2010 through IG Markets South Africa, which operated under the Financial Sector Conduct Authority regulation.
In communications to clients, IG said it would discontinue domestic trading accounts denominated in rand and close all open positions by 28 July, offering a 60-day notice period to ease the transition.
Clients holding accounts under the group’s offshore entities were allowed to retain them, but the move marked a clear end to IG’s local onshore presence.
Another high-profile departure was management consultancy Bain & Company, which confirmed it would shut down its South African consulting operations.
Bain has struggled for years to recover from severe reputational damage following the State Capture Commission’s findings into its work for the South African Revenue Service during the Zuma administration.
The firm was implicated in contracts linked to the restructuring of SARS, a process widely viewed as having weakened the institution’s enforcement capacity.
Bain later admitted to “making mistakes” between 2014 and 2017 but denied deliberately undermining the revenue service.
Despite attempts to rebuild its standing after being banned from government work in 2022, the firm ultimately decided to exit the local market altogether.
End of a prominent miner
In September, global media analytics and data group Nielsen also gave notice of its intention to exit South Africa within 12 months following an internal business review.
Founded in 1923, Nielsen operates in more than 100 countries and employs over 30,000 people worldwide.
In South Africa, it played a critical role in audience measurement, providing data for the Broadcast Research Council’s Television Audience Measurement Survey and supporting the Radio Audience Measurement Survey.
Nielsen said it had informed both employees and the BRC of its decision, which prompted the industry body to begin a transition process to appoint a new provider for audience measurement services.
The mining sector witnessed a significant shift when Anglo American sold its remaining shares in Valterra Platinum, formerly Anglo American Platinum, marking the end of its direct exposure to platinum mining in South Africa.
The company was originally formed in 1995 after Anglo American unbundled assets acquired from Johannesburg Consolidated Investments.
Anglo American decided to spin off the business as part of a broader restructuring to counter a takeover bid from BHP, focusing instead on assets it considers core.
Platinum’s uncertain long-term outlook, driven by the global transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, weighed heavily in the decision.
Anglo American remains invested in South Africa through its majority stake in Kumba Iron Ore.
The banking sector also saw a major withdrawal, with the South African Reserve Bank formally gazetting the closure of HSBC Private Bank in South Africa at the end of September.
This followed HSBC Bank’s earlier announcement that it would exit the country entirely after three decades of operation.
HSBC began operating locally in 1995 and confirmed in 2024 that it would wind down, with a final operational deadline of 31 October 2025.
As part of the exit, its client base is being transferred to FirstRand, which received regulatory approval for the transaction in June.
Major shift for legal giant
In the mining space, London-headquartered Jubilee continued progressing towards a full exit from South Africa.
The company announced in August that it had received a binding offer from private mining and metals trader One Chrome to acquire its local chrome and platinum group metals operations for $90 million, or about R1.5 billion.
Jubilee said the assets had reached a mature stage, with limited growth potential without significant capital investment.
The disposal allows the company to focus on its copper operations in Zambia, which require a dedicated management and funding structure.
The legal sector rounded off the year’s exits when global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright announced in November that it would leave South Africa, with its local practice becoming an independent firm from 31 March 2026.
Norton Rose Fulbright was formed in 2011 through a merger involving South African firm Deneys Reitz, and the separation will see the current local CEO, Brent Botha, lead the newly independent business.
While the global brand will no longer have a presence in South Africa, the firm said the move represents the next phase of growth for the local practice, which will continue advising clients across South Africa, the rest of Africa, and internationally.
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