Corporate, commercial and financial services constitute the major part of our practice. South Africa’s re-integration into international markets has dramatically changed the face of our economy and the way business is conducted. Bowman Gilfillan has anticipated and is reflecting these patterns of change.

We have been involved in several of South Africa’s ground breaking corporate and financial transactions, and advise listed and unlisted domestic and international corporations, banks and financial institutions, light and heavy industrial firms, state owned enterprises and government departments. This has given us a strong foundation from which to advise domestic and international clients in all sectors of the economy, including building, engineering, financial services, information technology, manufacturing, mining and energy, pharmaceuticals and transport.

Our lawyers continually review our service standards against the benchmark of the service expectations of multi-national clients. At the same time, we strive to ensure that the solutions we provide are cost effective. Our size, resources, combination of breadth of skills, communications, facilities and geographic spread enable us to handle the largest and most time-critical transactions when required.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Acquisitions, mergers and take-overs
• Aviation and aircraft finance
• Asset based finance
• Banking and finance
• Capital markets and derivatives
• Capital raising
• Commercial contracts such as Franchise agreements, Lease agreements, License agreements, Service and Management agreements
• Commercial Property
• Competition issues (anti-trust)
• Corporate finance
• Corporate restructuring and rationalisations
• Dispositions of controlling shareholdings in listed corporations (contested and uncontested)
• Due diligence exercises
• Empowerment transactions
• Exchange control
• Implementation of broad based black economic empowerment (BEE) strategies
• Information Technology
• Initial public offerings (IPO's) and listings
• Insolvency and corporate recoveries
• Insurance and reinsurance
• International offerings involving South African corporations
• Joint ventures
• Mining, real estate and shipping transactions
• Outward and inward investments
• Privatisations and restructuring of state assets
• Project finance and public/private partnerships
• Public offers
• Public and private partnerships
• Sale and lease backs
• Schemes of arrangement, as well as the sale and purchase of private corporations and businesses
• Securities law
• Securitisations
• Stock exchange listings
• Tax
• Tender submissions
• Unbundelings (demergers)

We also advise and represent clients before competition tribunals and parliamentary sub-committees.

RECENTLY OUR TRACK RECORD INCLUDES ADVISING:

• International clients in their bids for the privatisations of major state owned enterprises
• A public entity in its restructuring and subsequent corporatisation
• Domestic and international financial institutions in financing acquisitions and concession projects
• Some of the country’s largest corporations in major unbundling (demerger) transactions
• Consortia of unions and black business in some of the major empowerment transactions
• A major empowerment corporation in its initial public offering and subsequent listing
• Agents, arrangers and underwriters in international bond issues and syndicated loan facilities
• Major South African corporations in their international and domestic offerings and placings
• Bidders, targets and their financial advisers in some of the major contested and non-contested take-overs and mergers
• A major mining house on the South African legal aspects of the listing of a number of mining companies in its group on NASDAQ
• Major South African and international corporations on the newly enacted competition legalisation