One of Uganda’s top law firms, Bowmans Uganda (FK Mpanga), has been declared National Law Firm of the Year for Uganda as IFLR Awards recognised wining deals, teams, and individuals in its Inaugural 2020 Sub –saharan African Awards.
The winners were declared on a basis of monthly research by the team and careful deliberation by the editors and IFLR journalist that make up the internal judging panel
According to IFLR, the awards recognised the most legally innovative deals of 2019-20 from across the region and the firms and lawyers behind them. The research organisation highlights that its focus for the Sub-Saharan Africa Awards was ‘exclusively on transactions that break new legal ground, set market precedents, or introduce new innovations to the legal toolkit’.
IFLR adds, ‘’to be considered, all deals must have closed between May 31 2019 and May 31 2020. The deals must meet the specific criteria to be categorised as cross-border and as Sub-Saharan African.’’
The awards ceremony was held virtually due to the difficult environment brought about by COVID-19
Uganda to host WFP Global Fleet Hub, establish unique humanitarian platesAt the awards, Bowmans Uganda (FK Mpanga) emerged winners of National Law Firm of the Year Award for Uganda
Meanwhile, Katende, Ssempebwa & Co. won Deal of the Year in the Capital Markets for its role in the Airtel Africa IPO deal.
Uganda Law firms, Bowmans, Sebalu & Lule also won Deal of the year Awards in the Domestic category, for their role in the merger of NC Bank Uganda and Commercial Bank of Africa, the 19th and 21st largest banks by assets respectively. The merger paved way for Uganda’s 15th largest bank- out of 25 licensed banks seeing the merged entity control well over UGX281 billion in lending and UGX370 billion in customer deposits- roughly 2% market share.
Furthermore, In the M&A Category, Bowmans, ENSafrica Uganda, Katende, Ssempebwa & Co., were awarded Deal of the Year Award for their role in the American Tower Corporation / Eaton Towers Africa acquisition. The deal saw American Tower Africa acquire Eaton Towers Holdings, adding approximately 5,700 communications sites to its African portfolio. Total consideration for the acquisition, subject to certain post-closing adjustments, was approximately US$1.85 billion, including the assumption of existing Eaton Towers debt.
