Senior Legal Advisor: Equity Transactions

To proactively provide specialised legal advice and support on equity transactions related to the DBSA’s financing activities. The role will focus on structuring and executing equity investments, ensuring that all actions are legally sound and compliant with regulatory standards, and protecting DBSA's investment portfolio. This role also includes mitigating legal risks, preventing adverse consequences for the DBSA, and offering expert legal counsel across the organisation, particularly in equity-related matters.

**Key Responsibilities**:
**Key Performance Areas**:
Legal Advisory Functions:

- Collaborate with project teams to support Investment Officers in structuring equity transactions.
- Conduct thorough due diligence on equity investment opportunities and transactions to identify any legal risks or issues that need to be addressed
- Provide advice on the structuring, negotiation, and documentation of equity investments.
- Provide strategic legal advice to clients or internal stakeholders on equity-related matters.
- Review and draft term sheets, shareholder agreements, subscription agreements, and related equity transaction documentation.
- Lead negotiations on equity transactions with clients, co-investors, and stakeholders to achieve favourable legal outcomes.
- Monitor and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements related to equity investments.
- Manage relationships with internal and external counsel for complex equity transactions.
- Provide legal support on issues arising in relation to equity exits or restructuring.
- Offer ongoing support in monitoring equity portfolios from a legal perspective.
- Handle disputes related to equity transactions and oversee the legal aspects of governance issues in relation to equity stakes held by the DBSA.
- Provide training to legal staff or other units on equity-related legal issues and best practices.
- Perform other legal services to business as required.

**Key Measurements of Outputs**:
1. Time taken to prepare and or review contracts, agreements and legal opinions.
2. Quality and accuracy of contracts, agreements, opinions and solutions provided.
3. Quality of legal due diligence on equity investments performed.
4. Effective management of legal claims and litigation risks.
5. Management of total case / agreement / opinion / other legal costs.
6. No litigation due to contractual errors and or omissions.
7. Effective monitoring of the contracts and agreements.
8. Clean audit.

**Key Internal Liasion Relationships**:
1. DBSA committees and unit managers
2. Other Professionals in the Legal Unit
3. DBSA Credit Committees

4. Investment team
5. Technical Specialists

**Key External Liasion Relationships**:
1. External Customers and DBSA Suppliers

2. External Counsel

**Expertise & Technical Competencies**:
**Qualifications and Experience**:
Minimum Requirements:
1. A Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) or Legal postgraduate qualification.
2. Admitted Attorney/Advocate of the High Court of South Africa.
3. A minimum of 5 years post-admission experience in a commercial/finance/banking or corporate law environment gained at a commercial banking, specialist law firm/ corporate or similar institution.
4. Extensive experience in equity investments, private equity structures, asset management funds, en commandite partnerships, including structuring, negotiation, and legal documentation.

Desired Requirements:
1. Experience in public-private partnership projects which include equity components.

**Technical Competencies**:
a) Written communication
- Understands that different writing styles are required for different documents or audiences.
- Write effective correspondence, prepares questions and reports, statements of circumstance and briefing notes.
- Reviews others’ documents for clarity and impact.
- Has a solid mastery of writing principles such as grammar, sentence construction etc.

b) Presentation skills
- Can reinforce key presentation points with examples.
- Is able to translate technical terminology into language understandable to the audience.
- Has insight into the audience’s behavior and motivation and responds appropriately and professionally, adapting communication style as appropriate.

c) Reporting
- Designs / customizes reports to meet user needs.
- Prepares complex or tailored reports, gathers information from a variety of sources, analyses and includes in a report.
- Keeps standard reports under review and proposes improvements to meet user needs.

d) Legal Knowledge
- Extensive knowledge and understanding of the principles of DBSA.
- Wide-ranging knowledge of industry best practice, and keeps abreast of, interprets and informs on developments in the area of new laws and regulations relevant to DBSA.

e) Legal Policy Knowledge
- Ability to represent DBSA in the court of law when required.
- Ability to draft non-standard legal documents per procedures.
- Ability to draft more sensitive policy and legal procedures to be followed by stakeholder