Most multinationals measure legal function maturity by headcount, technology spend, or policy coverage. A more honest measure is simpler: what happens to institutional knowledge when a member of the legal team leaves or moves roles? In most subsidiary and regional legal functions across Africa, the answer is that it leaves with them. This is not […]
The Knowledge That Walks Out the Door With Every Departing Lawyer Read More »
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 »
Most deal delays in South Africa are not caused by the issues that make headlines – pricing disagreements, regulatory intervention, or financing falling away. They are caused by legal and structural problems that were visible early and not addressed. The result is a process that drags, conditions that multiply, and a closing that costs more
Most founders who have been through a failed or heavily discounted transaction will tell you the same thing: the legal issues that surfaced in due diligence were not surprises to them. They knew the employment contracts were informal. They knew the IP assignment was incomplete. They knew the shareholder agreement had gaps. They just did
What Kills a Deal in Due Diligence Has Usually Been Building for Years Read More »
Subsidiary and regional legal teams across Africa are routinely asked to deliver global-standard compliance and contracting with a fraction of the headcount, budget, and institutional support that the group team operates with. The result is predictable: constant urgency, too many exceptions, a function that is always behind, and a legal team that spends its best
The Service Design Problem at the Heart of Every Struggling Subsidiary Legal Team 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 »
Private equity and venture capital transactions in South Africa move through a predictable sequence: investment thesis, preliminary commercial assessment, indicative terms, and then due diligence. It is in due diligence that deals most often stall, reprice, or collapse – and the findings that cause this are, with notable regularity, things that were knowable before the
The Legal Due Diligence Findings That Derail South African PE and VC Deals Most Often Read More »
Most South African business owners who have been through a failed or heavily discounted sale process can point to the moment things went wrong. It is almost never the commercial terms. It is the due diligence findings that nobody anticipated – and that nobody had fixed, because no one had looked. Here are the five
There are two moments in an investor’s calendar when legal can either accelerate everything or derail it completely: when you’re raising a fund and when you’re exiting a position. These are the highest-stakes, most time-sensitive transactions in the cycle – and they’re also when legal bottlenecks tend to appear without warning. The problem isn’t that
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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.
