Anjarwalla & Khanna

Managing Partner: Karim S Anjarwalla
Number of partners/directors: 19
Number of lawyers: 100+
Number of dual qualified lawyers: 6
Languages: English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Gujarati, Kiswahili, Urdu

Firm Overview:
ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna is one of the leading corporate law firms in Kenya and is the largest full-service corporate law firm in East Africa with over 100 lawyers. It is bolstered by its pan-African reach through ALN, a leading alliance of top-tier independent firms in fifteen countries across Africa and the UAE. ALN Kenya has offices in both Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya’s two main commercial centres, and affiliate offices in Dubai (ALN UAE | Anjarwalla Collins & Haidermota) and Tanzania (ALN Tanzania | A&K Tanzania) which provide corporate and commercial legal services. ALN Kenya has been widely recognised as a leader by top directories and institutions and has won various international awards, including the ‘2020 African Law Firm of the Year – Large Practice’ award at the African Legal Awards.

Main Areas of Practice:

Banking & Finance:
■ Acting for the National Government of Kenya in connection with the issue of a USD 2.5 billion sovereign bond
■ Acting for Standard Chartered Bank (SC Bank) and Standard Chartered Bank Kenya in connection with Standard Chartered Bank’s agreement to provide an amortising term loan facility of USD 40 million to Mombasa Cement
■ Acting as lead transaction counsel for Acorn as the Issuer and Stanbic Bank Kenya and SBG Securities, the lead arrangers, in connection with a USD 50 million MTN programme for several proposed purpose-built student housing by Acorn Holdings

Corporate M&A & Private Equity:
■ Acting for Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands), as the lead Africa legal adviser coordinating transactional, regulatory (telecom and mobile money) and competition advice over 14 jurisdictions in Africa in connection with a USD 1.25 billion investment in a newly formed holding company, Airtel Africa, by six leading global investors
■ Acting as lead counsel for Equity Group Holdings in connection with the acquisition of a 62% share of Banque Populaire du Rwanda and 100% of African Banking Corporation in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique from Atlas Mara through a share swap, and a subsequent merger of banking entities in Rwanda and Tanzania

Capital Markets:
■ Acting for Vivo Energy, Vivo Energy Holding and Vivo Energy Kenya in connection with Vivo Energy’s admission of its shares in UK
■ Acting for IFC in connection with a ‘first-of-its-kind’ forestry bond that allowed investors to be paid wing funds generated from carbon credits Competition
■ Acting for Kiboko Holdings in connection with obtaining competition approvals from the Competition Authority of Kenya, the Fair Competition Commission in Tanzania and the COMESA Competition Commission in relation to their acquisition by the Carlyle Group, an American based multinational equity fund, of a majority of the issued share capital in AK Life Sciences
■ Advising Société BIC S.A. in connection with obtaining competition approvals from the Competition Authority of Kenya on their termination of the franchise agreement with Haco Industries Kenya

Projects & Infrastructure:
■ Acting as lead counsel for Berkeley Energy in connection with its proposed acquisition of seven power generation and development assets from Tozzi Renewable Energy in Madagascar
■ Advising Bechtel in connection with the proposed construction and development of the Nairobi – Mombasa Expressway

Dispute Resolution:
■ Acting for Heineken Group in connection with a disputed termination of distribution agreements
■ Acting for one of the largest privately owned security services companies in connection with two post-acquisition disputes filed before tribunals appointed by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)

Real Estate & Construction:
■ Acting for AVIC International Real Estate Kenya in connection with its development of a mixed-use development comprising of one of the tallest office blocks in Kenya
■ Acting for Actis in connection with their partnership with Improvon Group for the development of an A – Grade product-specific warehouse and distribution park, on a 103-acre piece of land

Restructuring:
■ Acting for KCB Bank Kenya, Diamond Trust Bank Kenya, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, and Bank of Africa Kenya, the senior lenders of a large retail chain in Kenya valued at USD 407 million, in connection with their position as creditors and recovery options available on the backdrop of their financial distress
■ Advising Unilever Kenya in connection with the restructuring of Unilever’s operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia

Employment:
■ Acting for Kenya Airways (KQ) in connection with a dispute between KQ and its pilots represented by the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA), an umbrella association for pilots in Kenya
■ Acting as auditors for British American Tobacco Kenya in connection with the mandatory Legal & Compliance Audit required under the Code of Corporate Governance Practices for Issuer of Securities to the Public 2015

Tax:
■ Advising Google in connection with its defence against the Kenya Revenue Authority’s decision to refuse a VAT refund on the exportation of intercompany services between its Kenya and Ireland offices
■ Advising Vodacom Group and Safaricom in connection with various tax matters in relation to their acquisition of the M-PESA pan-African money payments system