Commercial Law

Our specialised commercial law team (CL team) takes a great deal of pride in providing our clients with on-going and individualised support based on their varying commercial needs. As a trusted legal partner for high-net-worth individuals, family offices, start-ups and more established corporates, we seek to enhance efficiencies, foster growth and mitigate risk.  

Notwithstanding differing scale and complexity, the core components of our corporate and commercial offering broadly comprise the following:

-       commercial advisory;

-       corporate structuring;

-       transactions and deal making; and

-       dispute resolution and litigation.

Commercial Advisory

The commercial advisory arm of our CL team performs an integral support role within the governance structures of many of our corporate clients. We seek to harness a comprehensive understanding of these businesses and operations in order to render robust advice across the corporate and commercial landscape in the South African market. With vast sector and industry-specific experience, our CL team is aptly placed to support our clients in navigating the inherent complexities associated with matters of corporate governance and commercial decision-making.

Depending on the specific need, the level of integration of our CL team to our client’s structures is easily scalable, in the narrow sense consisting of on-call responses to day-to-day issues with a defined scope and, in the broader and more integrated sense, the deployment of dedicated resources to perform company secretarial functions (amongst other things).     

Corporate Structuring

Due to organisational growth, the introduction of new business and legislative requirements or simply the furtherance of strategic objectives, our CL team is regularly engaged in the establishment of HoldCo’s, subsidiaries, joint venture vehicles and inter vivos trusts. This is commonly undertaken in conjunction with the formalisation of the relationship between these entities and their corresponding stakeholders, involving the drawing-up of constitutional documents such as memoranda of incorporation, shareholder agreements and trust deeds – all specific and tailor-made to our client’s needs.  

On the international front, we are well-placed to assist our clients with offshore structuring and commonly serve as a liaison between our clients and various international advisory and capital management firms with specialised expertise to develop and implement these solutions in different jurisdictions.  

Transactions and Deal Making

A key and unwavering objective of our CL team is to ensure that our clients’ contractual matrices consist of clearly defined, actionable rights and responsibilities. On a day-to-day transactional basis, the CL team offers attentive contractual support to both its individual and corporate client base by reviewing, settling and crafting purpose-built agreements for application across contrasting sectors of industry.  

From a deal making perspective, our CL team provides hands-on support in structuring, negotiating and implementing strategic projects, mergers, acquisitions and similar transactions in the market for corporate control. To the extent dictated by the circumstances, this support is coupled with practical guidance concerning legislative compliance and regulatory approval.    

 Dispute Resolution

From a commercial standpoint, dispute resolution (and litigation) is often an unavoidable consequences of a failure in the regulation of a commercial relationship, or in some cases, the regrettable deterioration in the relationship of certain contracting parties.

Our CL team, in conjunction with our broader dispute resolution team, prioritises the pragmatic resolution of disputes, whether by means of litigious proceedings or alternative methods of dispute resolution. When litigation is inevitable or imperative, we often leverage expertise within our network of trusted practising Advocates with a view of developing and implementing cost-effective strategies designed to secure the rights of our clients. Irrespective of the facts, we pride ourselves in placing the commercial interests of our clients at the forefront of our transparent and resolution-oriented litigious advice.