Services

We offer solutions where others see problems

We provide corporate, legal and advisory services across Africa.  We focus on transactional work across industry sectors and are able to provide advice under South African and English law.

We advise on:

  • mergers and acquisitions
  • project development for both sponsors and investors
  • all types of shareholder arrangements and joint ventures
  • corporate structuring, management buy-outs and restructurings
  • expansion and investment strategies, including greenfield establishment
  • equity capital markets, including IPOs and leveraged buy-outs
  • establishment of investment funds and private equity
  • due diligence, regulatory and compliance matters
  • corporate governance and company secretarial

Please scroll down for further details on our cross-border and English law capabilities and the general counsel services we offer

Cross-border expertise

We understand the challenges of cross-border transactions and the complexities that accompany them. We advise on transactions in both civil law and common law jurisdictions, including the French and Portuguese speaking jurisdictions in Africa.

We frequently advise on mitigation of country risk where we are able to provide guidance on local business practice, limitations of local searches, vendor/investor protection, local practice regarding warranties and indemnities and contract enforceability generally. We ensure that we provide our clients with appropriate protections for the countries in which they operate.  

We have established relationships with local counsel in all key African jurisdictions and we ensure that any advice obtained is appropriately considered, focused and priced. Our cross-border experience informs our approach with local counsel – efficient and pragmatic.  We endeavour to obtain any advice required timeously by leveraging off a combination of past experience and established relationships.

English law capabilities

English law is the preferred choice of law for international transactions, particularly in Africa and it also forms the basis of the legal systems in much of sub-Saharan Africa.  Our team has English law capabilities which provide us with a unique advantage to advise on cross-border transactions.  We are experienced in providing both transactional and regulatory advice under English law and are familiar with market practice applicable in various jurisdictions.

Role of general counsel

We appreciate that our clients require on-going support apart from transactional advice – we view this as an opportunity to learn more about our clients’ needs and to tailor our service offering to satisfy these needs.  In a number of instances, we assume a general counsel role for clients and function as or supplement their internal legal capabilities as necessary.  This includes providing support on general corporate work, corporate governance related issues, company secretarial services and ad hoc legal queries.