"We are delighted and honoured that the partners of De Comarmond & Koenig in Mauritius ("DCKM") will be incorporating their business into ENSafrica," said Piet Faber, chief executive at ENSafrica. This new office follows on the recent launch of the firm's offering in Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. Faber goes on to say: "We are focussing our efforts as a firm to extend our services throughout Africa. It is what our clients need from us and we are firmly of the view that you can only offer world-class legal advice and provide clients with legal, tax, forensics and IP solutions if you are on the ground in Africa where the business is happening."
The proposed date of the integration of DCKM into ENSafrica is 13 December 2013. DCKM is the oldest law firm in Mauritius and dates back to 1828. In addition to general legal services, its other focus areas are litigation, commercial, financial, intellectual property, insolvency/business rescue and fiduciary services. It is a market leading practice in Mauritius and maintains in a position of pre-eminence in that jurisdiction.
Thierry Koenig, the head and senior partner of DCKM, commented that "our firm and that of ENSafrica share a client base which includes a number of multinationals, global financial institutions and banks and we see this union as one that will be truly beneficial to our extended client base as Mauritius is a major gateway for investment into Africa and India". Faber agrees with Koenig, "We strongly believe that Mauritius serves as a major gateway for investments into Africa by many of our clients and this is the reason for an ENSafrica presence in Mauritius. As a firm committed to developing our reach, experience and expertise across Africa is makes sense that we have a presence in Mauritius. It also gives us a reach into the Indian Ocean region." According to The Africa Report, in 2012, 51% of investments made by global business companies registered in Mauritius went to Africa, up from 31% in 2010, according to the Financial Services Commission.
Mauritius's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Arvin Boolell, recently said that Africa has great potential. He noted that there is political will to ensure "economies of scale" in the region and there was no "one size fits all for Africa", thus underscoring the importance of Mauritius as an investment gateway. China Africa Development Fund's Executive Director Luis Zhengyi said more and more Chinese companies are expected to utilise Mauritius as a platform for various investment activities into Africa."
DCKM brings 10 lawyers into ENSafrica who already has over 550 lawyers on the continent maintaining its position as Africa's largest law firm.
