- Overview
- Significant Matters
Overview
Globally, the market for impact investing, sustainable business and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing exceeds USD 100 trillion. More than half of institutional investors across the world have integrated responsible investment principles into their investment approaches. In South Africa, there has been marked growth in impact, sustainability and ESG transactions in the past five years, and this trend is expected to gain momentum across the continent.
Legislation and regulation are beginning to change accordingly. Simultaneously, rising shareholder and civil society activism is driving heightened public awareness of the value of responsible investment.
Our multidisciplinary, multijurisdictional teams of specialists advise clients across Sub-Saharan Africa on the legal aspects of impact, sustainability and ESG topics, and have facilitated some of the first transactions of their kind in the region.
In the M&A space, we represent asset managers, fund managers, lenders and borrowers on transactions across asset classes and sectors, advising on every stage of the investment process, from design and formation to measurement and exit. We are also equipped to advise industry bodies, regulators and governments on partnering for impact, which has significant potential to drive sustainable development on the African continent.
Our lawyers have contributed towards frameworks such as the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), UNEP FI and The Generation Foundation’s research on legal frameworks for investing. We work closely with the Grunin Centre for Law and Social Entrepreneurship at New York University School of Law and the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town.
Our clients include banks, impact investors, asset managers, fund managers, industry bodies, regulators and governments.
Our impact, sustainability and ESG service offering includes:
- Bank financing
- Debt capital markets
- Due diligence
- Governance
- Impact investment structuring and fund formation
- Impact measurement and management (IMM)
- Impact M&A
- Organisational form
- Regulatory
- Sector-specific expertise
- Stewardship