Specialisations

Sipho's specialisations are corporate commercial legal transactions; mining law; commercial research and due diligence enquiries; capital raisings, offerings public and private, listings, corporate governance; negotiating and drafting commercial takeover, subscription, management and shareholders agreements; and labour relations.

Sipho is a key player in the Commercial Department. He has acted counsel to many of the recent offerings, listings of shares, linked units and debt instruments in Botswana. He undertook review of legislative regulatory environment in respect of the privatization of Air Botswana, the Government Bond Issue, the sale of Governments PDSF Loan Book to a Special Purpose Vehicle, and the issue by that Vehicle of collateralised debt obligations.

Sipho was attorney to the acquisition by major shareholders of minorities in a listed company by way of scheme of arrangement and the subsequent de-listing of the company from the Botswana Stock Exchange. On an ongoing basis Sipho carries out and gives advice on the law and regulatory environment in Botswana with regard to securities, financial instruments, derivatives and swaps to multi-national companies and international law firms. Sipho supervises numerous due diligence investigations in respect of companies in all aspects of commercial activity and in connection with local and international offerings, takeovers, mergers and acquisitions.

Experience in the litigation and arbitration department, dealing with numerous disputes in respect of design, engineering and building contracts, has equipped Sipho with regard to and he is familiar with the most sophisticated of such contracts, and their management and allocation of risk and responsibilities.

Sipho has a keen interest and specialisation in the resources sector; an expert in mining law he has acted as advisor to numerous of the multinationals with interests in Botswana amongst them being Xstrata, Norilsk, De Beers and Debswana, Firestone Diamonds, IAM Gold.

Patience is the conveyancer and notary to the practice with particular expertise in conveyancing i.e the drafting and registration of agreements of sale, deeds of transfer, mortgage and notarial bonds, deeds of hypothecation, deeds of lease, certificates of title, certificates of partition transfer and sectional title registers.

Having been employed at the Deeds Registry, Patience was part of the teams which advised Government departments on matters involving the Deeds Registries Act and ancillary legislation and the implementation of the Sectional Titles Act.

Tshepiso specialises in the drafting and reviewing of commercial agreements, reviewing legislation, drafting opinions, conducting legal due diligences and the licensing of foreign collective investments and labour law.

Recent mandates included:

Managing the acquisition of land rights for the 360-kilometer North South Carrier 2 water pipeline which is to run from the north Botswana . The acquisition of land rights includes extensive consultations with various Government Departments, Land Boards, and land occupiers for purposes of land evaluations and compensation. Ultimately, ownership in the land has to vest in the acquiring authority.

Carrying out a legal due diligence for the development of the Botswana International University of Science and Technology which is to be implemented through a Private Public Partnership. The due diligence involved research on all laws advising on legal issues that would arise as the project proceeded, being that of procurement and acquisition of land, constitutional capacity (structures, legal status) of the University, public finance, construction, human resources, corporate requirements, competition/anti-trust law, taxation, health safety and environment, and determining the appropriate of contractual structure of the project.

Conducting a legal due diligence for the De Beers AK06 Diamond Mine to be built in the Central District in Botswana, compiling a register of all laws applicable to the development of a diamond mine in Botswana, categorized into 3 phases: pre-construction, construction and operational phases.

Carrying out a legal due diligence and compiling a report in partnership with the South African law firm Webber Wentzel on behalf of the International Finance Corporation for the privatization of Botswana Telecommunications Corporation, reviewing all applicable laws and the documentation available at BTC in respect of corporation organization, employment and employee benefits, litigation and insurance, immovable and movable assets, health safety and environment, regulatory affairs, intellectual property, information technology, commercial agreements, borrowings, finance and liabilities, all in light of the impending corporation and privatization of the Corporation.