Commercial Property

Our Commercial Property Practice is at the forefront of real estate acquisition, development and finance across the length and breadth of the African continent and successfully safeguards the interests of all industry role players, whether they be developers, landlords, lenders, property funds or tenants.

Our team comprises a dynamic group of talented real estate legal practitioners situated in our various offices across the African continent.

Our geographical reach and our knowledge of the real estate industry throughout Africa, enable us to provide hands-on legal solutions across a wide array of multi-jurisdictional transactions, ensuring seamless collaboration and solutions to even the most complex of projects.

Our imperative is to provide industry role players with practical and cost-effective counsel throughout the property ’life cycle’, from structuring, acquisition, development, tenanting and financing, through to eventual disposal, drawing on the collective experience of some of Africa’s finest real estate legal practitioners.

• Structuring and planning: We recognise the pivotal role that careful structuring and planning plays in every successful real estate venture and offer the full spectrum of expert advice required at the outset of every real estate venture.
• Acquisitions and disposals: Both seller and purchaser have important interests that require safeguarding. We ensure that the interests of our principal (whether the seller or the purchaser) are protected in a practical and solutions-orientated manner.
• Development: Our acclaimed development experts have successfully assisted developers in launching multiple developments on time and within budget.
• Financing:We represent most of the leading real estate financiers across Africa and ensure that their interests are safeguarded when providing acquisition, development, term or restructuring finance to real estate investors, developers or real estate funds. We provide an integrated, end-to-end service. Our involvement commences with negotiating and preparing deal and term sheets and continues through drafting and settling the full suite of loan and security documentation, auditing underlying sale and lease agreements relevant to the venture being financed, attending to the registration of all registrable securities (whether notarial or mortgage bonds) and monitoring the fulfilment of advance pre-conditions. We also represent the interests of borrowers seeking acquisition, development, term or restructure finance and guide them through the negotiation and execution of the applicable financing and security documents in a way that they can commit with full knowledge of the liabilities they are assuming.
• Leasing:We represent the interests of many of the most influential property funds and developers across the African continent throughout the leasing process. We also represent the interests of numerous retailers across Africa in ensuring that their interests, as tenants, and the specific needs of their businesses, are safeguarded in the lease negotiation and preparation process.
• Litigation: Our real estate experts work with our specialist dispute resolution lawyers to offer a cost-effective, practical and solutions-based dispute resolution service in respect of real estate disputes.

Chambers and Partners, 2022

‘houses an esteemed real estate department equipped to support infrastructure, office, retail, hotel and residential developers across the full gamut of real estate law’

‘significant experience acting for banks and other financial institutions on the financing and refinancing of property and developments, the firm offers further experience advising on sales and acquisitions. The team is also sought out for its counsel on retail and residential development’

Legal 500, 2021

‘represents a large number of banks, developers, and listed and unlisted property funds, in financing acquisitions, disposals and the development of commercial, industrial and retail real estate in South Africa and beyond.

‘extensive record in lease and development lease agreements for both landlords and tenants, and frequently conducts real estate due diligence investigations linked to corporate transactions’

recognised leader in master plan real estate projects’ 

‘actively engaged in land rights connected to projects work and has a significant market share of conservation work in Kenya’ 

• We advised Royal Bafokeng Platinum Mine on its acquisition of a concentrator plant and related surface rights (including the water and power allocations) in respect of the immovable property owned by Maseve Investments 11 Pty (Maseve) which may be required by RBPlat to access and operate the plant and access to tailings infrastructure, for a consideration equal to the ZAR equivalent of USD 58 million, and the acquisition of 100% of the shares in and shareholder claims owing by Maseve for a consideration equal to the ZAR equivalent of USD 12 million.

• We assisted Kgalagadi Pipeline JV (a consortium in which Group Five Construction is the lead party) in defending interdict proceedings against the implementation of a contract awarded to the consortium by Sedibeng Water, a regional water utility based in the Northern Cape. The interdict proceedings sought to halt the implementation of a ZAR 1.2 billion contract to install a water pipeline in a remote area of the Northern Cape. Judicial review proceedings were subsequently launched, also on an urgent basis, which sought to set aside the award of the tender on various grounds provided for in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 2000. We were successful in opposing these judicial review proceedings and recovered significant costs in favour of our client.

• Bowmans provided advice and preparing a construction contract based on the FIDIC Suite of Contracts specifically the Yellow Book with regard to “Avana”, a development located in Nairobi comprising of a ten floor residential building that has been designed to consist of 80 apartments and 4 penthouses.

• We advised GrowthPoint Properties (the issuer) on the issuances of ZAR 300 million senior unsecured floating rate notes due 9 March 2023 (GRT24G), ZAR 240 million senior unsecured floating rate notes due 9 March 2025 (GRT25G), and ZAR 560 million senior unsecured floating rate notes due 9 March 2028 (GRT26G), under its ZAR 20 billion domestic medium term note programme.

• Advising Hospitality Property Fund Limited (as Issuer), the various obligors and FirstRand Bank Limited (acting through its Rand Merchant Bank division) (as Manager) on the ZAR 600 million issuance of Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due 31 March 2023.

• Hospitality Property Fund Limited (a company listed on the Main Board and Interest Rate Market of the JSE Limited) and a specialised Real Estate Investment Trust (“REIT”) investing solely in the hospitality and leisure sectors, and its property holding subsidiaries in relation to: (i) the amendment and restatement of the Hospitality Property Fund Limited Domestic Medium Term Note Programme by, inter alia, increasing the programme size from ZAR 2 billion to ZAR5 billion and (ii) the restructure of the Hospitality group’s existing security structure.

• We helped Stanbic Bank and The Standard Bank of South Africa to perfect securities for finance facilities advanced to Two Rivers Development in the amount of KES 1.58 billion and USD 14.5 million respectively.

• Bowmans advised General Motors South Africa in relation to the disposal of its Isuzu business to Isuzu Trucks South African and related matters.

• Bowmans advised a large international hotel chain in relation to its arrangements with a local Kenyan entity on its possible establishment of operations in Nairobi.  We advised on the due diligence on the land on which the hotel will be developed and various corporate and commercial matters, including the transaction documents for the commercial arrangements between our client and the local Kenyan entity.

• Counsel to OMP Africa Investment Company Proprietary Limited in respect of its $ 62.5 million (KES6.4 billion) investment in the Two Rivers Mall in Kenya. The investment comprised of an acquisition of shares and loan funding. Two Rivers Lifesyle Centre Limited is in the process of constructing, developing and leasing out space in the Two Rivers Mall in the Northern side of Nairobi. The Two Rivers Mall, once completed, is said to be the biggest mall in East and Central Africa with a capacity of approximately 62,000 square metres. OMP Africa Investment Company Proprietary Limited is a subsidiary of the Old Mutual Group, and serves as the group’s property holding company across Africa.