Firm Overview

Commercial & Corporate law firm
Established in 1983 (started as a General Practice law firm in 1974, Damant Bostock & Magang)
Languages: English and Setswana

Practice areas
Corporate Commercial:

• company formations
• subscriptions & shareholders agreements
• shareholders agreements
• management, technical and services supply agreements
• restructures, schemes of arrangement
• partnership/joint venture agreements
• acquisition of shares or of business agreements
• tax structure and planning
• Botswana Stock Exchange matters

Capital raising:

• IPOs and private placements, listings
• rights issues
• loan agreements (local & international)
• debt instruments issues (bond, notes, dematerialised paper, preference shares)

Tax:

• value added tax
• income tax (private & corporate)
• disposal gains tax
• tax agreements

Insolvency:

• sequestrations and liquidations
• offers of compromise
• restructure, schemes of arrangement

Property:

• acquisition of title, transfer of title
• short term and long term leases
• securities, mortgage bonds, deeds of hypothecation, pledges, cessions
• sectional titles
• township developments (consolidated & separated title)

Resources

• prospecting and mining licences
• advice

Litigation:

• advice
• pleadings
• High Court appearances
• submissions
• management of a matter to conclusion

Industrial relations:

• advice, negotiation, mediation and arbitration

Intellectual property:

• registrations of patents and trade marks
• searches
• disputes in respect of rights

Trade:

• business names
• franchise, use, distributorship and agency agreements

Banking:

• banking law
• loan documentation
• security documentation
• negotiable instruments
• banking regulatory environment and its legislation

International Financial Services Centre:

• applications
• certification
• structure, tax regime
• regulatory environment

Collective Investment Undertakings:

• trusts, funds, companies, setup and structure
• tax
• regulatory regime

Significant cases

• development of the Botswana Stock Exchange, the Insurance, Collective Instrument Undertaking Industries and legislations
• the International Financial Services Centre and its legislation in the Income Tax Act
• privatisation of Air Botswana on behalf of the International Finance Corporation and Public Enterprise Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA)
• review of the Companies Act on behalf of the Law Society that culminated in the New Act
• Disciplinary and Conveyancing Tariff Committees on behalf of the Law Society
• coal mine and power station project for Botwana (US$6 billion)
• metal refinery project in Botswana
• new diamond mine in Botswana
• development of upmarket lodges in iconic destinations in Botswana, Seychelles, Rwanda, Kenya and Gabon (US$40 million)
• privatisation assessments for PEEPA
• Botswana Government University of Science and Technology PPP
• Southern African Development Community PPP
• Botswana Government Bond Issue
• sale by Botswana Government of Parastatal loan debt by way of CDO via a SPV

Client profile
Legal advisors to:

• 14 out of the 15 domestic listings (BSE)
• 3 out of the 7 dual listings (BSE)
• 8 out of the 10 bond issues
• the single commercial paper issues (BSE)
• 9 of the mining houses operating in Botswana
• all major multinational firms in the engineering, construction, building and allied industry
• all major banks operating in Botswana, and ABC Holdings Limited (an international fianncial services centre company incorporating several banks situated in five different countries in the sub-Saharan region)

Contact Information

Name: John Carr-Hartley
Title: Senior Partner
Degree: BA LLB (KZN, South Africa)
Speciality:
Litigation
Arbitration & Mediation
Building / Construction
Banking
 
Name: Sipho Ziga
Title: Partner
Degree: LLB (University of Botswana)
Speciality:
Corporate & Commercial law
Industrial labour law
Banking
PPPs
Stock exchange matters