Corporate & Commercial Law
Strategic Legal Advice for Business Growth, Investment & Governance
Cox Yeats provides comprehensive Corporate & Commercial Law services to entrepreneurs, corporates, investment firms, and multinational businesses across South Africa and beyond. Our team advises on the full corporate lifecycle, from company formation and structuring to mergers and acquisitions, governance, taxation, empowerment structures, and regulatory compliance.
By combining legal precision with commercial insight, we help clients navigate complex transactions, manage regulatory obligations, and unlock sustainable business growth. Our multidisciplinary approach integrates expertise in corporate law, commercial transactions, B-BBEE advisory, tax law, and corporate finance, enabling us to deliver practical solutions tailored to each client’s strategic objectives.
Our team advises on a wide range of corporate and commercial transactions, supporting clients through every stage of business expansion, investment, and restructuring.
Our services include:
- Transaction Structuring: Legal structuring for mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, disposals, strategic alliances, and share or asset purchases.
- Due Diligence: Comprehensive legal due diligence across corporate, regulatory, tax, environmental, competition, and employment considerations.
- Negotiation & Transaction Documentation: Drafting and negotiating commercial agreements, shareholder agreements, sale agreements, and complex transaction contracts.
- Regulatory Approvals: Advising on approvals from regulators, including the Competition Commission, sector regulators, and cross-border authorities.
Our team works closely with specialists across the firm to ensure seamless execution of complex commercial transactions.
Strong governance structures are essential to sustainable business success. We advise boards, executives, and shareholders on maintaining compliance with evolving regulatory frameworks.
Our services include:
- Corporate governance frameworks and board advisory
- Company formation and corporate structuring
- Shareholder arrangements and fiduciary duties
- Regulatory compliance and reporting obligations
- Corporate restructuring and reorganisation
We help businesses ensure that governance practices align with both legal obligations and commercial objectives.
Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment remains central to the South African business environment. Our team assists clients in developing compliant, commercially sound empowerment structures that align with sector codes and procurement requirements.
Our services include:
- B-BBEE Advisory & Strategy: Guidance on the B-BBEE Act and Codes of Good Practice, including strategic transformation planning and scorecard optimisation.
- Ownership Structures & Equity Participation: Structuring ownership trusts, employee share schemes, joint ventures, and consortium arrangements that support transformation objectives.
- Compliance & Scorecard Optimisation: Advising on compliance across the five B-BBEE elements, including ownership, management control, skills development, enterprise and supplier development, and socio-economic development.
- Risk Management & Fronting Prevention: Identifying structural risks and ensuring empowerment structures meet regulatory requirements.
Our team works closely with internal stakeholders and verification agencies to ensure practical, implementable transformation strategies that support long-term growth.
B-BBEE & Transformation
Tax considerations play a critical role in corporate transactions, restructuring, and investment decisions. Our tax law specialists provide strategic guidance to ensure compliance while optimising tax efficiency.
Our services include:
- Tax Structuring & Planning: Strategic tax advice on corporate structures, investments, and commercial transactions to ensure legal efficiency and long-term value.
- Regulatory Tax Compliance: Guidance on compliance with South Africa’s complex tax legislation and regulatory requirements.
- SARS Engagement & Dispute Resolution: Representation during SARS audits, investigations, objections, appeals, and Tax Court proceedings, ensuring clients are protected throughout the process.
- Cross-Border Tax & International Transactions: Advising on tax implications for international business operations, foreign investment, and cross-border commercial structures.
Our tax lawyers work closely with corporate and commercial teams to deliver integrated legal solutions that manage risk and maximise opportunity.
We advise investors, fund managers, and businesses on complex financing and investment transactions.
Our experience includes:
- Structuring and establishing investment funds
- Private equity investments and exits
- Capital raising and financing arrangements
- Corporate restructuring and refinancing
- Project and infrastructure finance transactions
We support clients through every stage of the investment lifecycle, ensuring transactions are legally sound and commercially aligned.