Firm Overview

History
Established in 1982

Expertise
Koep & Partners is a corporate and commercial legal firm specialising in the following practice areas:

Mergers and Acquisitions:
The firm's transactions in this area range from small private acquisitions to advising on takeovers of companies in Namibia whose head offices are situated in South Africa.  Recently, the firm was appointed to advise upon and conclude the largest merger in Namibia.

Banking and Finance: 
The firm represents two of the largest banks in Namibia, as well as the Namibian Bankers Association.  The firm has advised financial institutions on their loan transactions and mortgage policies.  At least one partner of the firm attends annual banking seminars in order to keep abreast of national and international developments.

Insurance: 
The firm represents the largest insurance company in Namibia in the form of providing litigation services and advice with respect to contracts and general insurance business.  The firm also litigates for and on behalf of the insurance company in Namibia and South Africa.

Intellectual Property: 
The firm provides specialist services in trademarks, patents and copyright.

Litigation and Arbitration: 
The firm specialises in commercial litigation and has been involved in national arbitrations and ADR.  Its lawyers are frequently involved in cases before the High and Supreme Courts of Namibia and have appeared in matters before the Courts in South Africa.

Energy Law: 
The firm plays an active role in the development of law in the energy sector through its role in providing advice to a major corporate client involved in the oil and gas industry.

Corporate Law: 
The firm advises on all aspects of general corporate law; including the drafting of contracts for Namibian and South African clients.

Property: 
The firm provides counsel on property law, transfer of properties and sectional titles and registration of mortgage bonds.

Employment: 
The firm specialises in matters relating to Namibian employment law.

Mining: 
The firm's senior partner specialises in mining matters and represents some of the largest mining houses in Namibia.  He also authors numerous articles and contributions that have appeared in international journals and publications.

The firm is actively involved in the mining industry, in advising existing mining companies, as well as incumbent mining companies.  The senior partner has been involved in a number of due diligences leading to the listing of companies with substantial mining interests in Namibia and on the Toronto and London Stock Exchanges.  The senior partner has extensive knowledge on offshore diamond mining.

Administrative Law:
The firm is involved in a number of review applications to the High Court of Namibia, mostly with regard to actions taken by Ministries and/or officials in the Ministries or parastatals.

Firm Highlights

Significant marketplace recognition includes:

• One of the World’s Leading Law Firms in Namibia according to Chambers Global Directory.
• Chosen as the only law firm in Namibia to advertise in the “Guide to African Markets” published by the British Chamber of Commerce.
• Listed in the International Who’s Who of Merger & Acquisition Lawyers and the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers.

Key clients include:

The firm's client base includes some of the largest companies and corporations in Namibia.  Many of the firm’s clients are headquartered in the Republic of South Africa or overseas, ranging from major banks and insurance companies to fishing companies, mining houses and construction companies.

Clients include: Nedbank Namibia Limited, First National Bank of Namibia Limited, Samicor (Pty) Limited, LLD Diamonds Namibia (Pty) Limited, United Africa Group, Namura Mineral Resources (Pty) Limited, Mutual & Federal, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Wilderness Safaris Group, Cymot Group, Namibia Wildlife Resorts, National Housing Enterprise, LTA Grinaker Group, Murray & Roberts, Ittur Industrier AB, Schwenk Zement International AG, Okorusu Fluorspar (Pty) Limited, Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation and Teal Mining and Exploration Corporation and NAMCOR.

Contact Information

No. of Partners in firm: 6

Key Partners include:

Peter Frank Koep
The Founding Partner is Peter Frank Koep, born on the 2nd of December 1951 in Swakopmund, Namibia.  He was educated in Cape Town, where he attended the University of Cape Town and obtained a BA LLB degree in 1977.  He commenced his articles of clerkship in Namibia in 1978 and was admitted as an attorney in 1980.  In 1982, he started practising under the name and style of P F Koep & Company and some years thereafter invited Arnold Ferdinand van Zijl and Josias Andries Agenbach to join him as partners in the firm.  Since then, Willem Carel Kotze and Richard Traugott Diethelm Mueller joined the partnership.  Sadly, after a long battle with cancer, Arnold Ferdinand van Zijl passed away in June 2005.  In December 2006, the partnership changed its name to Koep & Partners.

Although the practice offers the full range of legal services, Peter Koep concentrates primarily on mining, corporate and commercial work, as well as High Court litigation.  He is a long-standing member of the Law Society of Namibia, previous Councillor of the Law Society of Namibia and a member of the International Bar Association.  He was the founding member and subsequently President of the Namibia Peace Plan 435, working for the implementation of the United Nations Resolution 435 of 1978 leading to the independence of Namibia.  He is presently a member of the President's Advisory Committee on Economic Affairs and has assisted in drawing Rules for the Namibian Stock Exchange. Peter is the Chairman of the Namibian Stock Exchange (since 2004).  He is also the Chairman of PAMAN (Professional Arbitration and Mediation Association of Namibia).

Specialisation: Increasingly, Peter Koep specialises in corporate work, advising companies on corporate agreements, reviewing applications and advising and representing clients in the fishing and mining industry.  Presently, much of his time is spent consulting with clients involved in the mining sector, undertaking due diligences and offering political and economic feasibility-related analyses and advice to potential investors.  He provides legal services and advice to oil exploration companies on their offshore rights, especially with regards to the amendment to existing legislation in order to provide for exploration in the EEZ.  He has counselled the Namibian Bankers Association on amendments to the laws governing insolvency.

Publications:  Over the years, Peter Koep has delivered numerous papers and written articles for a range of publications, including the following: The Role of Lawyers in a Changing Society - a paper delivered to a meeting of the Law Societies of South Africa in 1991, The Road to Independence of Namibia – a paper delivered in El Salvador on the invitation of El Rescate, Arbitration in Terms of the Arbitration Act – a paper delivered during October 2001.  Peter has written an Article on the Mining Sector published in the mining newsletter Mining Law E Bulletin.  He has also written an article in the Journal on Energy and Natural Resources Law published by the International Bar Association regarding Access and the Payment of Compensation in Terms of Namibian Mining Legislation.  He is the author of the Namibian contributions in “Getting the Deal Through” in respect of Mining and Anti-Corruption legislation.

Josias Andries Agenbach
Josias Andries Agenbach was born on the 24th of January 1961 in Mariental, Namibia.  He was educated in Stellenbosch, Republic of South Africa, where he attended school and obtained a BCom degree in 1981 and a LLB degree in 1983 from the University of Stellenbosch.  He qualified as an attorney, after serving his articles of clerkship with P.F. Koep and Co. under Peter Koep.  Mr Agenbach concentrates on High Court litigation, corporate and commercial work, banking law, trademarks, patents and transportation (road and air).  Mr Agenbach is a member of the Law Society of Namibia and has served on, inter alia, the High Court Committee, the Human Rights Committee and also as an examiner for the trial examination that candidate attorneys have to pass for admission to the legal profession.  Mr Agenbach specialises in Financial and Commercial law, mergers and acquisitions and the performance of legal and commercial due diligence investigations for commercial transactions.

Willem Carel Kotze
Willem Carel Kotze was born on the 25th of February 1967 in Kuruman, Republic of South Africa.  He was educated in Stellenbosch, South Africa, where he obtained his BA LLB degree in 1990 at the University of Stellenbosch.  After undertaking his clerkship with Theunissen, van Wyk & Partners in 1992 and 1993, he was admitted as an attorney in 1994.  He joined P.F. Koep & Co. in 1995 and was invited to become a partner in 2000.  Mr Kotze concentrates solely on property law, the legislation of property, transfer of ownership and the drafting of property related agreements.

Richard Traugott Diethelm Mueller
Richard Traugott Diethelm Mueller was born on the 16th of February 1972 in Windhoek, Namibia.  He was educated in various schools in Namibia.  He obtained his BCom LLB degree at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and his LLM degree in 1998 at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.  Mr Mueller commenced his candidate legal practitioner training with P.F. Koep & Co. in 1999 and was admitted as a legal practitioner in March 2000, being employed as a professional assistant with the firm until February of 2002, before being made a partner in March 2002.  Mr Mueller concentrates on labour law, commercial work, admiralty law, road transport permits, registration of close corporations and companies and general litigation.  He is a member of the Law Society of Namibia and serves on the Contingency Fees Committee.  He has previously served on the Advisory Committee on the proposed new Labour Act.  Mr Mueller is also the moderator on Labour law for the Justice Training Centre’s admission examinations for legal practitioners, as well as a member of the NLPA (Namibian Labour Practitioners Association) and a member of PAMAN (Professional Arbitration and Mediation Association of Namibia).

Irvin David Titus
Irvin David Titus was born on the 18th of October 1975 at Willowmore, Republic of South Africa.  He is a Namibian citizen by naturalisation.  He was educated at Concordia High School, Windhoek, Namibia, and obtained his BA LLB degree in 2000 at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.  Mr Titus practised as a State Prosecutor from January 2001 until January 2002, before commencng his candidate legal practitioner training with the firm Dammert & Hinda Inc.  He was admitted as a legal practitioner in April 2003 and joined Koep & Partners in January 2004.  Mr. Titus was invited to join the partnership in 2008.  Mr Titus specialises in labour law, the drawing of corporate contracts, commercial law, MVA claims and general civil litigation.  He advises clients on gas and oil issues.

Beate Karen Loch
Beate Karen Loch was born on the 20th of February 1976 in Windhoek.  She was educated at the Deutsche Höhere Privat Schule Windhoek and obtained her BA LLB degree in 1999 at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.  Ms Loch commenced her candidate legal practitioner training with P.F. Koep & Co. in 2000 and was admitted as a legal practitioner in April 2001.  She then joined First National Bank of Namibia as the Chief Trust Officer from 2001 until 2004.  She sat for and passed her conveyancing examination in May 2003 and at the beginning of 2005 re-joined the firm as a fully qualified conveyancer.  Ms Loch concentrates on property law, transfer of ownership, property agreements, estates, estate planning, wills and trusts.  She was invited to join the partnership in 2008 and is currently serving on the Law Society’s Standing Committee for Wills and Estates, as well as the Conveyancing Committee.

Andrew Katimbo Sekandi  (Professional Assistant)
Andrew Katimbo Sekandi was born on the 9th of December 1982 in Zimbabwe.  He was educated at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where he obtained his BA LLB degree in December 2006.  He served his articles of clerkship with Koep & Partners under Peter Koep and was admitted as a legal practitioner and member of the Law Society of Namibia in April 2008.  Mr Sekandi mainly concentrates on general civil litigation, drafting of corporate contracts and opinions and commercial law and corporate investigations.  Mr Sekandi is also an executive committee member of PAMAN (Professional Arbitration and Mediation Association of Namibia).