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After a fevered year of recruitment last year, Bowman Gilfillan's capital markets team has settled down to a busy year, involving a heavy involvement in the debt markets with some equity deals as well.

Casper van Heerden has been most active, leading on a number of mandates for the markets team. One of these was advising the City of Johannesburg, The Standard Bank of South Africa and Basis Point Capital on an issue of senior unsecured notes due 2021 under its DMTN programme. The deal closed in March 2011 and comprised a $124 million bond issue and $497 million issue of commercial paper.

A similar deal, also featuring van Heerden, entailed advising the Airports Company of South Africa as it undertook an update of its own $4.4 billion MTN programme. The company operates ten airports in South Africa, including four international airports and six local ones.

The equity side of the practice is managed by Ezra Davids, whose team was also increased this year with the hire of Deon de Klerk, a partner from rivals Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs, who joined in February 2011.

Davids himself led a team on a highlight deal advising Royal Bafokeng Platinum, a leading platinum group metals producer, with regards to its listing on the JSE. This also entailed a shares offering through a primary issue by the company as well as a secondary offering by its shareholders Royal Bafokeng Holdings and Anglo Platinum. One of the biggest mining listings on the JSE in recent history, the deal closed in November 2010 for a combined figure of $4.3 billion.

Bowman Gilfillan has continued its strategy of growth this year, building on the recruitment of Lionel Shawe to become more visible in the market. Peers also remark that the firm could be looking to move tiers very soon.

"Most of the rankings are for me correct. I would however question Bowman Gilfillan's position, as they could be higher than tier three. They definitely have some ability," says one, while a partner agrees: "Bowman Gilfillan has a good established banking team. They should be tier two."

Bowman did increase its headcount this year, expanding its capabilities with a number of partner hires. These include Khurshid Fazel from ENS, Lisa Botha from Dewey & LeBouef, Deon de Clerk from private practice and Anthony Colegrave and Casper van Heerden from Deneys Reitz (Norton Rose).

In terms of banking deals the firm was engaged on a clutch of sizeable mandates for the Rand Merchant Bank and Nedbank. On one the team advised Rand, Nedbank and Old Mutual Specialised Finance as lenders, as well as Virgin Active South Africa as borrower, on a restructuring of a licensing arrangement and a $313 million refinancing of outstanding debt held by Virgin Active with new senior and mezzanine loan facilities.

Lionel Shawe led the team advising Standard Finance (Isle of Man) and Stanbic Bank Ghana on a set of $138 million secured revolving credit facilities to Gold Fields Ghana and Abosse Gold Fields. In 2011 the team also advised a syndicate including South African and Botswana banks on the $175 million financing of a coal mine expansion project at Morupule, the first large scale investment of this type in Botswana.

With a reputation for capturing some of the biggest ticket deals in the market, Bowman Gilfillan once more retains its tier one position this year. "All those listed as leading lawyers under Bowman Gillifan are all extremely good," says one peer. "If I was putting together a ranking Bowman would be in my tier one," comments another partner.

The firm has not stood still either, and has built on the team with a number of eye-catching partner hires, including Thato Seroto, from Deneys Reitz [Norton Rose] in August 2010, Heather Duffey, from its London office in December and Deon de Klerk, from ENS Cape Town, who joined in February 2011.

In December 2010 a team led by Ezra Davids advised Simon Property Group in connection with its offer to acquire Capital Shopping Centres Group for $4.3 billion. Already an existing shareholder in Capital Shopping Centres, the largest shopping centre owner in the UK, this deal gave it full ownership.

One deal that exemplifies the increasing interest of Far Eastern investors in the market saw Ezra Davids, leading a team advising Kansai Paint, a Japanese paint manufacturer, on its initial $287 million acquisition of a 27% stake in Freeworld Coatings. This was followed up by a hostile takeover bid for the remaining shares. The deal is currently still with the South African Competition Authorities. Another big deal in 2011 saw Carl Stein and Rob Cohen advise on the $2.3 billion reverse takeover of Gold Reef Resorts by Tsogo Investment. The team actually acted for SABSA Holdings, a shareholder in Tsogo, with the completion of the deal leading to a new company being listed on the JSE.

Bowman Gilfillan is most definitely considered a frontrunner in the market, with peers praising the consistent quality of its work. "Bowman Gillifan are very good, they have an excellent team," says one rival, and another adds: "There is no doubt about Bowmans being in the top tier." "BG is still up there, it is always a consistent player," remarks another.

Leading lawyers come in for praise too, Rob Legh being described as having a "big reputation" and Derek Lotter as "being seen a lot", with both being highly respected by peers.

All the leading lawyers in Bowman's team have been active this year, with Jean Meijer advising on matters arising from Kansai's hostile takeover of Freeworld Coatings. Freeworld's board of directors provided opposition to the takeover on competition and public interest grounds and Meijer acted for Kansai, which ultimately proved successful with the Competition Commission conditionally approving the transaction in April 2011.

Derek Lotter also had an interesting instruction, representing Murray & Roberts Group by carrying out a compliance review and advising on leniency applications, work that entailed defending a number of complaint referrals related to alleged collusion in the construction industry, a big target for the Competition Commission at the moment. A long-term mandate that commenced back in 2006, investigations are still ongoing.

A team from Bowman, in this case led by practice head Legh, has also been advising Altech Netstar with regard to appeals relating to impropriety in the vehicle tracking industry, namely the private setting of standards between Altech and others including prohibited horizontal practices. Despite having the decision overturned, appeals are still pending and as such this instruction remains open to date.