News type: News

One of East Africa’s biggest corporate law firms, ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna (A&K), has thrown its weight behind a cross-border initiative to stop the use of single-use plastics. From March 8 to 29 the initiative will see a dhow made of plastic waste cross Lake Victoria to spread the message to the people living on its shores.

The organisation behind the project is the Flipflopi Project Foundation, a “movement for change”, and which A&K has been supporting by doing legal work pro-bono.

A&K lawyers have been advising the Flipflopi Project on the legislative process in the East African Community and the introduction of a legislative framework to ban the use of single-use plastics across the region. The unsung legal heroes from A&K are Senior Associate, Abbas Esmail, Associate Hulda Ateka and trainee lawyer, Wanjiku Murage.

Karim Anjarwalla, Managing Partner at A&K, said the law firm had embraced the Flipflopi #PlasticRevolution project because it provided a platform to spark conversation around the damage single-use plastics were doing to one of the world’s most important ecosystems.

“Our lawyers’ skills often make a crucial difference for organisations that deal with social priorities. Matching the needs of social organisations like the Filipflopi Foundation with lawyers who dedicate their time to pro bono work, is one of our goals.”

For the law firm, being involved in the project has meant a fundamental change in the way things are done in their offices.

“We have significantly reduced our use of single-use plastic. One such measure has been replacing plastic Tupperware with reusable glass and aluminium/steel bottles and containers for our client meetings and events.”

“We also offer lunch to our staff, which reduces their reliance on meals provided by food vendors who typically use single-use plastic packaging.”

“Additionally, seeing as face masks are an effective tool in reducing the spread of COVID-19, one of the best ways to reduce our waste and protect our staff and clients is by providing and encouraging the wearing of reusable cloth masks – a safe and stylish solution to plastic pollution.”

The firm has also placed waste bins strategically within the office premises to collect and safely dispose of single-use masks and gloves which would otherwise find their way in landfills or simply be littered on the streets.

Karim said law firms could contribute to the conservation sector by offering their expertise and assistance to social enterprises and non-profit organisations that were working towards advancing a more sustainable world.

“They can inspire their own people and communities through the power of their action.”

The Lake Victoria Expedition will include Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Also involved is the United Kingdom through the support of the UK High Commissioner for Kenya, the United Nations Environment Programme and the three country’s governments.

The main aim is to bring the world’s attention to the ‘upstream’ impacts of pollution on freshwater ecosystems like Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake and the source of the Nile, and highlight East African positive leadership on the issue.

“At A&K, we are very deliberate about leveraging our unique position as a full-service law firm and our pan African reach, through the ALN network, to transform our continent for the better by making tangible legislative contributions to positive social and environmental changes and by promoting the rule of law by developing strong links with the communities in which we work,” Karim said.

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This article was written and first published by Africa Legal. 

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has published draft guidelines that will enable listed firms to buy back their shares from next year. The CMA is now inviting stakeholders and the general public to submit comments on the draft guidelines by July 31, 2020.

The Companies Act, 2015 (the Companies Act) brought in a substantive change to company law in Kenya by providing for share buybacks by companies in Kenya. The Companies Act initially permitted such repurchase of shares by both private and public companies. However, concerns were raised by the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and share buybacks for listed companies were put on hold.

Share buybacks are a useful mechanism to return surplus cash to shareholders and listed globally companies often use this mechanism where they believe that their shares are undervalued. By reducing the number of shares in the market, and hence the supply of traded shares, listed companies are able to boost their share price and therefore provide long term shareholder value. Shareholders who retain their shares in a buyback effectively take a long term view in the hope of benefitting from a higher share price in the future. The repurchase of shares in listed companies is common in the UK and the USA; however, they have also been mired in controversy with buyback being claimed to artificially lift the value of the shares without any underlying value creation and hence no increase in actual value and potentially masking underlying financial problems of the company. In addition, the buyback route means that less capital is retained in the company for the development and expansion of the business. Share buybacks by listed companies can, therefore, open the door to potential abuse and caution should be exercised before this route is explored.

The share buyback draft guidelines are available here. Comments should be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of the CMA.

To find out more or should you have any queries on share buybacks, please do not hesitate to contact Rosa Nduati-Mutero, Dominic Rebelo or Charlotte Patrick-Patel.

Leading international directory Chambers and Partners’ 2020 Global rankings have once again reaffirmed A&K’s  commitment to offering market-leading, integrated legal services to clients doing business in Africa. The firm has been top ranked across eight practice areas with the leading practice areas retaining Band 1 rankings:  Corporate M&A, Banking & Finance, Projects and Infrastructure, Real Estate, Fintech and Employment.

In its recognition of our practice areas, our growing Dispute Resolution team has been described as possessing “notable experience in class action defence and judicial review, as well as acting on insolvency proceedings and international arbitrations.” In the FinTech category, the firm has been described as “highly respected for its capabilities within the finance and technology sectors and is seen as a one-stop shop for many FinTech clients, at both the startup and institutional level.” In addition, the firm has been described as having “a broad pool of supporting expertise to draw upon as part of  ALN.”

A&K Ranked lawyers

Shem Otanga, who is a Senior Associate in the corporate department, has once again being recognised as an associate to watch. As quoted in the rankings, one source describes him as “a rising star in the Kenyan IP market.” Sonal Sejpal is recognised as a foreign expert in Banking & Finance in Tanzania and frequently leads cross-border deals. In addition, A&K Senior Partner Atiq Anjarwalla continues to be recognised as a leading lawyer in the UAE rankings for his Kenya expertise.

These annual rankings are based on extensive research by Chambers using in-depth interviews from clients, sector experts as well as competitors. As such, the rankings are a reaffirmation of A&K’s commitment to continue offering clients excellent legal services and effective solutions to their business challenges.