Africa

We were named “the leading international firm for high value work across Africa” by Acritas. In 2018, we won “International Law Firm of the Year” at the African Legal Awards, becoming the only firm to have won this award three times. We have also been named “Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Team of the Year", "Employment Team of the Year" and "Banking, Finance & Restructuring Team of the Year". Our commitment to CSR in Africa has been recognised through the “CSR, Diversity, Transformation and Economic Empowerment Award”.

We are market leaders in energy and infrastructure projects and finance matters in Africa, working on some of the most significant projects across the continent. Our achievements include advising Morocco's state-owned power utility on procuring and developing the country's 850 MW wind farm public-private partnership programme, acting for Angola state-owned oil company Sonangol on its USD 7 billion development of a major oil refinery, advising numerous lenders on Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme projects in South Africa, and advising on numerous projects under the Egyptian Government's Feed-in Tariff (FiT) programme. We have also advised on numerous energy and infrastructure projects across Southern, Eastern, Western and Francophone West Africa.

Our Corporate/M&A group advise clients on major cross-border deals while our litigation, compliance, investigations and tax teams leverage their strong working relationships with regulators and other government officials to protect clients' interests. In 2019, our team advised Impala Platinum Holdings Limited on its proposed acquisition of North American Palladium, a landmark deal.

Our clients doing transactions in Africa are further supported through our range of Africa-focused advisory teams such as Dispute Resolution, Antitrust & Competition, Compliance & Investigations, Employment, IP and International Commercial & Trade. Our Africa Tax Group provide continent-wide advice on tax issues.

No matter the business or legal issue, we provide clients with the guidance and support they need to overcome the challenges of doing business in Africa and achieve their Africa-focused strategies, using our expertise across industry sectors and legal systems to help them pursue opportunities, achieve growth and manage risk in their business.

• International Law Firm of the Year – African Legal Awards 2018, 2017 and 2015
• Employment Team of the Year – African Legal Awards 2019
• African Programme of the Year – South Africa's REIPPPP – 2019 Project Finance International (PFI) Awards: Middle East and Africa
• African Biomass Deal of the Year: Ngodwana biomass – IJGlobal Awards 2018
• Best Deal: UKEF Ugandan airport financing – Global Trade Review Awards 2018
• Global Multilateral Deal of the Year – Egypt Solar – PFI Awards 2017 – EMEA
• Deal of the Year – EMEA Export Finance: Power – Assuit and West Damietta Power Stations – Trade Finance Awards 2017
• Environmental, Energy and Infrastructure Team of the Year – African Legal Awards 2017 and 2016
• Leading International Firm for High Value Work across Africa – Sharplegal Global Elite 2016 Africa

Egypt

With more than 30 years’ experience in the local market, we are also the go-to firm for Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property and IT & Communications. Our Egypt lawyers have deep knowledge of the local legal, business, social and cultural environment, and work closely with colleagues across all of our offices to help clients navigate the intricacies of Egypt’s regulatory environment and achieve their global objectives.

 

Morocco

As one of the country’s leading international law firms, we support multinationals, financial institutions and investors that use Morocco as the hub for their African operations and financing deals. That support includes advising KIA on creating the Moroccan Touristic Fund, a joint venture among the Moroccan, Qatari and Abu Dhabi governments to redevelop sites such as the Bouregreg Valley in Rabat and the Casablanca Marina.

 

South Africa

With more than 60 lawyers on the ground, our Johannesburg office works closely with colleagues from our other African offices, while leveraging know-how from Africa subject matter experts based in our global offices, to provide domestic and cross-border African and international legal advice on a range of top-ranked legal areas. Our Banking & Finance, Dispute Resolution, Construction, Corporate/M&A, Mining, and Projects & Infrastructure are ranked Tier 1 by Legal 500. No matter the legal or business issue, we leverage our global network and knowledge of Africa’s local markets to help clients achieve their strategic objectives.