Spencer West Rwanda

Firm Details:

Chairman/Managing Partner: Asante Twagira

Number of Partners: 2

Number of Senior & other Associates: 3

Languages: English

Firm Overview:

Corban is a boutique law firm with an exceptional track record in providing quality and highly specialized legal advice and services to clients across the private and public sectors. The Firm was founded in 2018 with a focus on banking & finance, project finance, M&A, corporate commercial work, infrastructure & construction law, competition & anti-trust matters as well as exchange control and regulatory matters.

The firm’s founding partner, Asante Twagira, has 19 years’ experience in legal practice and spent the initial years of his legal career in Uganda before joining ENSafrica Rwanda in 2012 where he worked until the end of June 2018. He is recognised as a leading / recommended lawyer by Chambers & Partners Global Guide 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. He is fiercely dedicated to developing and maintaining the firm’s reputation as a premier boutique law firm serving the legal needs of international and local clients and is renowned for a commitment to providing a professional and responsive client service of the highest quality.

Upon establishing the firm, he was joined by John Mwemezi Rutta as consultant, a lawyer enrolled with the Tanganyika Law Society (the Bar Association of Mainland Tanzania), Ruth Ingabire who is the chief operations officer and Melissa Igihozo Ishimwe who is the Firm's star Associate. The Corban team is composed of two other members – an associate and a trainee.

Main Areas of Practice:

■ Banking & Finance

■ Mergers & Acquisitions

■ Project Finance

■ Corporate commercial work

Banking & Finance

■ Provided lead advisory services in the debt financing by Bestseller Foundation (BSF) of a Rwandan company developing eco-friendly paper bags and providing a 100% recyclable, chemical-free, compostable & biodegradable, quality product.

■ Assisted with the financing of the construction of Innovation City Campus to the tune of over USD 10 Million (via a bond issuance from BK Nest Fund and a term loan from Banque Populaire du Rwanda.

■ Advised on the restructure of a USD 5 Million funding to Africa Leadership University Group (ALU) following a corporate reorganization in the Group.

Contact/Team Lead: Asante Twagira

Tel: +250 786 110 968

Email: [email protected]

Project Finance & Infrastructure

■ Acted as local counsel (alongside Hogan Lovells) advising IFC on their investment in Duval Great Lakes Ltd (the "Company") to the tune of a $35 Million loan, to help finance the construction, equipping and placing into operation of a greenfield mixed-use property to be developed on a plot opposite the Kigali Convention Center in Kigali, Rwanda.

■ Acted as local counsel (alongside Pinsent Masons) to the Ministry of Infrastructure in the provision of legal technical support in the procurement of EPC works for the Kigali Wastewater Treatment Plant as well as advisory services with respect to the negotiation and drafting of complex commercial agreements in infrastructure transactions.

Contact/Team Lead: Asante Twagira

Tel: +250 786 110 968

Email: [email protected]

M&A

■ Acted as counsel on a deal to acquire a leading Microfinance Bank.

■ Advised on an equity investment into a leading African Farm Management Company that is involved in greenhouses, nurseries and dairy infrastructure and processing with a focus on export promotion.

■ Advised on the Rwandan aspects of a merger involving companies in five jurisdictions operating in the seed production and crop protection industry in Africa.

Contact/Team Lead: Asante Twagira

Tel: +250 786 110 968

Email: [email protected]

Corporate Commercial

■ Advised on the set-up of a leading Non-Bank Financial Institution (NBFI) right from the corporate structuring and tax advice to regulatory assistance (including obtaining an NBFI license from the Central Bank) as well as labour-law related advice.

■ Currently lead counsel on the structuring of a Africa-wide asset-finance company into Rwanda.

Contact/Team Lead: Asante Twagira

Tel: +250 786 110 968

Email: [email protected]