Position: Consultant
(former Managing Partner)
Telephone: + 264 (0) 61 38 3301
Email: hgerdes@englinglaw.com.na
Key Practice Areas
Commercial:
- Competition & antitrust
- Contract
- Corporate & commercial
- Intellectual property
Advises on:
- Preparing and submitting merger approval applications to the Competition Commission
- Merger control compliance advice
- Cartel investigations
- Abuse of dominance complaints
- Market investigations
- Complaints relating to anti-competitive conduct
- Competition law due diligence investigations and audits
- General advice on compliance with local competition laws
- Drafting and settling of contracts
- Regulatory advice
- Licensing and regulation of investment funds and investment management companies and regulatory issues relating to their operation
- Advising on financial services legislation affecting investment management companies and funds
- General matters of interest to investment management businesses including acquisitions, outsourcing, legal due diligence, intellectual property and corporate commercial issues
- Registration, transfer and licensing of IP rights (including copyrights, trade marks and patents) and matters incidental thereto
Career
- B Proc (University of Cape Town)
- Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (1980)
- Admitted Legal Practitioner in Namibia (1985)
- Member of the Law Society of Namibia
Professional involvement:
- Director of the Institute for Management and Leadership Training (1990-2000)
- Director of the Namibia Institute for Democracy (1990-2002)
- President of the Law Society of Namibia (1997/1998)
- Vice-President of the Law Society of Namibia (1993/1994, 1994/1995, 1995/1996)
- Member of the Executive Committee of the Law Society of Namibia (1995-2001)
- Member of the Council of the Law Society of Namibia (1992-2001)
- Convenor of Standing Committee on Intellectual Property of Law Society of Namibia (1990-2007)
- Convenor of Standing Committee of High Court Matters of Law Society of Namibia (1990-2000)
- Member of Standing Committee on Taxation (1990-2004)
- Member of Standing Committee on Commercial Law (1990-2007)
Extra professional appointments:
- Chairperson of the Body Corporate of Namlex Chambers (1998 to present)
- Chairperson of the Listings Committee of the Namibia Stock Exchange (2004 to present) (previously ordinary member (1998 to 2003))
- Chairperson of the Board of Control of the Namibian Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund (2009 to present) (previously ordinary member (1997-2009))
- Director of Namibia Breweries Limited (2001 to present)
- Chairperson of the Audit Committee of Namibia Breweries Limited (2001 to present)
- Director of Old Mutual Namibia (2013 to present)
- Director of the Namibian Stock Exchange (2009 to present)
- Council Member of the International Bar Association representing the Law Society of Namibia (2001 to 2008)
Accolades:
- Commentators to Chambers’ World’s Leading Lawyers readily acknowledge Habo as “the senior statesman of commercial lawyers in Namibia”
Highlights:
- Representing Namibia Breweries in the conclusion of a worldwide distribution agreement with Diageo
- Representing Ohlthaver & List Finance and Trading on domestic medium term notes programme
- Representing Diaz Wind Power, a joint development company between United Africa Group, Sojitz Corporation and Komipo regarding the establishment of a wind park near Lüderitz in southern Namibia
- Representing a team led by analysts Transportation and Economic Research Associates (TERA) that conducts research on the Gauteng to Walvis Bay transport project, a PPP linking Namibia, Botswana and South Africa
- Acting as local counsel for Diageo and Heineken when they acquired a stake in Namibia Breweries upon the withdrawal of Becks and Interbrew, involving extensive revision of contracts, brewing licences and the creation of ancillary agreements. The total value of the transaction for Heineken was €15.5 million
- Acting for Namibia Breweries in the joint venture between Diageo and Heineken that led to the creation of Brandhouse, currently South Africa’s second largest liquor distributor
- Acting for Namibia Breweries in the unbundling of Brandhouse and continued joint venture between Heineken and Namibia Breweries in Namibia and South Africa
- Instructed on the merger between Namibia Fishing Industries and Sea Harvest Corporation of Namibia;
- Advising on a project finance transaction whereby Berliner Wasser Betriebe (as it then was) transacted with the Municipality of Swakopmund (coastal town in Namibia near the envisaged site for the sea water desalination plant) regarding the Swakopmund sewage works
- Advising a consortium consisting of Berlin Wasser Holding AG, Compagnie Generale des Eaux SCA and Va Tech Wabag GmbH in the negotiations with the City of Windhoek regarding a private management agreement pertaining to the Goreangab water reclamation plant
- Advising the GRN in the drafting of the Diamond Agreements with De Beers, and advising the Government in the restructuring of Namdeb Diamond Corporation (Pty) Ltd and De Beers Marine (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd