Two corporate transactions worth US$542m separated the men from the boys
In 2013, Uganda had two major million dollar mergers and acquisitions (M&A’s), which required the services of law firms. There was Actis, which sold 45percent stake in Dfcu Bank to Norfund and Rabo Bank at a total of US$42m. Additionally, there was the Airtel acquisition of Warid Telecom Uganda LLC worth US$500m. These were the largest corporate deals in 2013 though there were other transactions not made public that had law firms scampering to provide services.
In October, The International Financial Law Review (IFLR) released its latest rankings [IFLR100 2014] of which Uganda’s tier 1 firms reduced from five to four. Shonubi Musoke & Co one of the largest commercial law firms in Uganda dropped to tier 2 although the rankings body indicates that “a fine line separates the two tiers in the market.
