Deal teams doing M&A in South Africa are generally well prepared for Competition Commission notification. It is the regulator everyone expects, the one every transaction lawyer raises early, and the one most deal timelines are built around. The regulators that catch teams out are the sector-specific ones – present in a specific transaction, easy to […]
The Regulator You Forgot About Is the One That Stops the Deal Read More »
Founders preparing for an exit tend to focus their attention on the parts of the business that feel substantive: revenue quality, customer concentration, the strength of the team. Corporate housekeeping – board minutes, shareholder resolutions, the share register – gets treated as administrative residue, the kind of thing that can be tidied up later if
The Paperwork Problem that becomes a Valuation Problem Read More »
In South Africa’s energy market, the most dangerous phase of a project isn’t the negotiation. It’s the waiting. Waiting for environmental authorisation. Waiting for municipal council approval. Waiting for NERSA. Waiting for the network operator to confirm a connection date. Waiting for a government counterparty to respond to correspondence sent three months ago. Projects that
The Consent Bottleneck: How SA Energy Projects Keep Moving When Regulators Don’t Read More »
Fund investors doing regular deals in South Africa and across the region spend significant time and capital on the transactions that define portfolio strategy – the acquisition, the follow-on, the exit. The legal work that gets the least structured attention is the work that happens between those moments: the everyday contract fabric of each portfolio
The Portfolio Contract Hygiene Programme: Where Value Leaks Between the Headline Deals Read More »
Subsidiary legal teams don’t lose control in a single moment. They lose it incrementally, through what accumulates into an exception spiral – a pattern that starts with reasonable flexibility and ends with a function where nobody can confidently state what the company’s standard position actually is. The spiral starts with individual decisions that each make
When teams say “Legal is slow,” it’s rarely because lawyers don’t know what they’re doing. It’s because contract work is high-volume and high-friction: documents arrive through long email chains and get separated from context and attachments, templates are inconsistent and vary by team, region or “who last sent the document”, schedules are incomplete and annexures
The “Legal Front Door”: Fix Contract Turnaround in 30 Days with Secure AI Read More »
Great companies get discounted – or delayed- because ownership is unclear. If your cap table is a patchwork of SAFEs, convertibles, side letters, and undocumented promises, buyers assume pain and price for it. A cap table detox is the cheapest way to protect value before an LOI. 1) Collect every instrument—no exceptionsPull term sheets, signed
Cap Table Detox: The 10 Moves That Save Your Deal Before Diligence Starts Read More »
Multinational subsidiaries across Africa share a common structural problem. The regional legal team is expected to handle local compliance, contracts, employment matters, regulatory engagement, and escalations – with a headcount and budget that reflects neither the complexity nor the volume of what is being asked of them. The result is a function that is permanently
The Hidden Cost of Running Your African Legal Team as a Smaller Version of Global Legal Read More »
Founders preparing for an exit frequently arrive at the valuation conversation with a clear view of what the business is worth: the revenue trajectory, the customer quality, the market position, the product. What they encounter instead is an offer that reflects something different – a price that appears to discount everything they believe they’ve built.
The Founder Risk Premium: The Discount Buyers Apply Before They’ve Said a Word Read More »
The concept of ‘plain language’ has come to prominence with the arrival of the National Credit Act, the Consumer Protection Act and the new Companies Act. These Acts require that written communications be in plain language so that creditors, investors, employees and consumers are able to easily understand what is put in front of them,
Plain Language: The Need for ‘Tight’ Writing Read More »
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Caveat's ai attorney,
Ask our AI a question about this topic, and one of our specialist lawyers will review the response and email you within 24 hours, free of charge.
KAI is free for Caveat friends and clients. To use KAI, complete the form below and look out for the AI’s answer, reviewed by a specialist lawyer, in your inbox. For the most accurate and helpful response, be as specific and detailed as possible. Provide all relevant facts and clearly state what you’d like answered.
Disclaimer: Kai is provided by Caveat in a bona fide attempt to make legal services more accessible to you. Caveat will not be liable for any damage, loss or expense arising from the use of this offering.
Feedback Welcome: Your experience matters to us. Please share feedback on this offering at info@caveatlegal.com to help us improve its efficacy.
