IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

Norton Rose launched an office in Casablanca July 2011. According to peers it has a very high presence in Moroccan deals and it is widely considered the leading international firm for Moroccan deals.

Paris-based partner Alain Malek is well known, active and highly regarded by peers. The office is the firm's fifth on the African continent.

Despite one or two opinions that Norton Rose, formerly Deneys Reitz, is suffering from a loss of some members of its team over the past few years, consensus keeps the firm at the very top.

This is an opinion backed by clients, who are more than satisfied with the service they received. "No problems, they were all great team players, focussed and pragmatic. They spotted issues early on and took efforts to solve them," comments one client. "They seemed to go the extra mile in anticipating problems and solving and finding solutions. I was impressed with the speed at which they worked. It was new type of deal so I was impressed with how they handled it in that sense too," says a debt client.

It is also the case that the team has been recruiting this year, taking partner Pierre Swart from Absa Capital in March 2011 and hiring partner Milton Osborn from O'Melveny & Myers in London in July 2010.

In terms of deals, the definite highlight was acting on the sovereign bond issue for South Africa. Milton Osborn, Stephen Boikanyo and Jackie King advised both the National Treasury as issuers and Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities and FirstRand Bank as underwriters on all aspects of the $750 million 6.25% fixed rate bond and due 2041listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Jackie King also led a team to advise Macquarie Securities South Africa as issuer and Macquarie Group as guarantor on a series of issuances of various types of debt, including floating rate notes and unsecured zero coupon listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, totalling $860 million.

Regarding Norton Rose's merger with Deneys Reitz, partners don't feel that it will have too much of an effect in the markets practice area.

Deneys Reitz' merger with Norton Rose, which is globally strong in finance, should arguably boost the firm's practice strength. Both peer and client feedback is supportive of its rank, despite the team having been changed around somewhat. One partner comments: "I am amazed to see Deneys Reitz [Norton Rose] still in tier one after the whole team left, it was a big impact," though theirs seemed to be a sole dissenting voice.

"Deneys Reitz is very good, we worked with them on a couple of projects," says another peer, while another partner singles out a leading project finance lawyer for praise: "Gavin Noeth at Deneys Reitz is very knowledgeable, diligent and very approachable. He is constructive and is popular to work with due to his attitude."

Another practitioner who receives commendations is Mark Kyle: "Having dealt with law firms before, who are usually very passive with their advice, it was warming to find Kyle. He has that rare gift of keeping quiet while people horsetrade and when they reach an impasse he comes in. His memory of deals and arrangements, his pick-up, is phenomenal," says a client. "Their depth of knowledge was excellent, absolutely," says another.

Riza Moosa heads up the department, and in 2011 he was leading on one of the highlight deals for the team advising the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) on a $2.1 billion credit facility extended by Agence Francaise de Developpement to enlarge and upgrade the its airports.

In mid-2011 Steve Gamble was advising Transnet, a large rail, pipeline and port company, on a $1 billion cross border financing transaction from the African Development Bank (ADB) and a group of other international banks.

Norton Rose also further added to its banking and finance capability, hiring partners Cynthia Venter and Milton Osborne, who joins from Allen & Overy.

Feedback indicates that Norton Rose, formerly Deneys Reitz, is not as much of a big player in the M&A market, with its expertise lying more in finance. This is something the merger has not changed, with the market reporting that while the practice is a respectable one, the firm as a whole is not so dominant in the corporate arena.

"I think it is right to treat Deneys Reitz [Norton Rose] as a boutique in some ways in M&A. There is one guy there, Kevin Cron, and he is very good," comments a peer.

The deal flow of the firm is solid however, with a set of good deals. The standout involves Kevin Cron leading a team to advise Capital Property Fund on a scheme of arrangement as it purchased linked units, as in shares linked to debentures, from Pangbourne Properties for $1.3 billion, which received court approval in February 2011.

The firm also made use of its Africa Legal practice, with Steven Gamble advising Essar Africa on its $750 million acquisition and investment into a major metals project to be instituted alongside the Government of Zimbabwe. The deal marks the first Indian investment into Zimbabwe, with the first stage of the deal completing in March 2011.

Prior to the merger in April 2011 there was a glut of recruitment and restructuring done in the corporate team, with Steven Kennedy-Good promoted from associate to partner, Brian Wimpey hired from DM Kirsch Attorneys and Bradley Scop and Glenn Stein both being hired from rivals Eversheds as partners.

Norton Rose possesses a solid competition practice that has the respect of the market but which some comment does not possess the correct size to really be top tier.

Their lead practitioner is solid and on the ball and competent but it is a small team," observes one partner. Client feedback is steadfastly enthusiastic about the team, although the firm has something in common with others in that clients feel the fees are a touch too expensive. "Yes, it was reasonable overall. Lawyers charge a lot but they did a lot of work for us and if you want top work you have to pay for it," comments one.

The team on a technical level comes in for high praise from clients: "They are excellent across the board. They know exactly what they are doing," says one, while a corporate client likes the foresight the lawyers possess: "They were very proactive in looking for aspects we might have missed, which was impressive. "They are our number one firm, we use them a lot and on an ongoing basis," sums up another client.

The head of the team is the respected Heather Irvine, who stepped into the position vacated by Lesley Morphet when she joined Webber Wentzel..

One standout case was the successful merger notification to both the South African and Namibian competition authorities regarding JD Group's acquisition of Steinhoff Doors and Building Materials and Unitrans Motor Enterprises, a deal, which also saw Steinhoff acquire all of JD Group's shares in Abra, a Polish furniture business, as well as a minority stake in JD Group itself.

In 2011 Irvine successfully defended global computing giant Hewlett Packard against a complaint brought by Mustek regarding discounts and rebates offered to South African distributors of its equipment.

The team added a couple of fresh faces in 2011, with Geoff Parr returning after serving as Deputy Chief Economist for the New Zealand Commerce Commission (Competition) and advising the NZ Department for Building and Housing and partner Glenn Stein being hired from Eversheds.