About

Number of years practice: 23

Languages spoken: English

What is the geographical focus of your practice in Africa?

Pan-African practice with a focus on West Africa,East Africa, Central Africa and South Africa.

Please describe the most important matters you have worked on in the African market in the last two years, including your role and the significance of the matter (if any) to the development of business and law.

I have been working on the Kudu Gas to Power project for many years. This is a critical project to Namibia that has been held up for various reasons over the years. In the past two years we have brought in a new set of upstream parties and have completely restructured the transaction to increase bankability. If it proceeds, it will be the largest project in Namibian history, and will guarantee the energy supply in Namibia for decades.

I have also been working on the Lufubu hydropower project in Zambia for the past two years. The key distinguishing aspect of this project is that the developer is a private Zambian citizen, who is using his own money to develop the project. Particularly outside of South Africa, this is rare and most of these projects involve the government and/or international companies and investors. We hope that there are more projects like Lufubu, which focus on building capacity in Zambia and keeping the profits “home”.

What differentiates your practice from that of other private practice lawyers?

A large part of my practice is government representation, rather than the representation of private equity, IPPs or lenders (although I do represent those parties as well!).

Why has Africa been a particularly strong focus for you?

It has always been a focus of mine. My first business trip as a young lawyer was to Tanzania in the mid-1990s, I got bitten by the “Africa bug”, and it has been with me ever since. When I started working in Africa there were very few projects lawyers working there, which really changed about eight or nine years ago when the REIPP program in South Africa started.

What changes have you seen in the appetite for Africa-based ventures and investments over the last five years?

There is increased interest from infrastructure funds and private equity, and commercial lenders are becoming active again in the market, but for the most part the primary investor pool remains the DFIs that are active in Africa.

Are there any aspects of the African legal market that you would like to see change?

Many jurisdictions in Africa still have a shortage of good lawyers. This is improving as time goes by, and I’d like to continue to see this and to see continued capacity building by international organisations.

What megatrends do you think will shape the African market over the coming five years? How (if at all) will these trends affect your practice?

I think that small projects (minihydro), solar photovoltaic projects and microgrids will continue to be more relevant, particularly as battery storage technology improves and becomes both cheaper and more readily available. This fragmentation of the power market is going to lead to some innovative investment structures as traditional project finance will be unsuitable.

I also think that the continued development of the LNG and gas markets and the marginalisation of coal as a fuel source is going to lead to some big projects and some big changes. Finally, I think that water/wastewater is going to be the “next big thing”, as highlighted by the recent issues in Cape Town.