Legal Counsel

Ninety One; Wes-Kaap; Presencial; ZAR 1.200.000 - 1.800.000; Tempo integral

Resumo da vaga

Ninety One in Cape Town seeks an experienced attorney to lead legal structuring for corporate credit and infrastructure debt. You will review and negotiate credit agreements and security, oversee external counsel, and support DCM activities across regional markets.

Deep knowledge of SA market dynamics and regulatory frameworks is essential. The role involves governance and risk assessment across origination and portfolio management, with a strong emphasis on execution quality and

Qualificações

• 7–10 years of relevant experience in leveraged finance, structured finance or principal credit investing.
• Experience in originating and closing privately negotiated credit transactions with portable relationships.
• Finalise deal execution from teaser to documentation oversight, with strong regulatory awareness.

Responsabilidades

• Lead, support and coordinate legal structuring and due diligence on corporate credit and infrastructure debt transactions.
• Review and negotiate finance documents including credit agreements and security packages.
• Support bond issuances, note programmes and listed structured products on regional exchanges.
• Oversee external counsel, ensuring quality, scope discipline and cost efficiency.
• Advise on governance, conflicts and risk matters across origination and portfolio management.

Conhecimentos

Leveraged finance

Structured finance

Principal credit investing

Credit structuring

External counsel management

Formação

CFA / CA(SA) / MBA or equivalent

Descrição da vaga

Ninety One is South Africa’s largest investment manager and the only one with a global presence. The firm has 22 offices across 15 countries on five continents and manages R3.9 trillion of assets on behalf of clients (as at 31 March 2026).

Established in Cape Town in 1991 as part of the Investec Group, Ninety One demerged and rebranded in 2020, becoming an independent firm dual-listed in London and Johannesburg.

Always an active manager, Ninety One today offers strategies across equities, fixed income, multi-asset and private markets to institutions, advisors and individual investors around the world.

About the team:

The EM Alternative Credit (EMAC) platform is one of Ninety One's highest-growth teams, investing across private credit, leveraged finance, infrastructure debt, high yield and structured credit in emerging and frontier markets. The platform operates a rigorous origination-to-execution model with deep in-house legal capability embedded within each deal team. The role offers direct origination exposure on some of the most innovative corporate and infrastructure credit transactions in the region, and a clearly defined area of accountability within the EMAC platform.

In this role you will:

• Lead, support and co-ordinate legal structuring, due diligence investigations and reviewing and negotiating finance documents (including credit agreements, security and related agreements) on corporate credit and infrastructure debt transactions, including but not limited to leveraged finance, direct lending, mezzanine, high yield and structured credit, primarily under English and South African law
• Support DCM and capital markets activity including bond issuances, note programmes, private placements and listed structured products on the JSE and other regional exchanges
• Support secondary market trading activity, including loan transfers, sub-participations, secondary bond purchases and the associated documentation, KYC and transfer mechanics
• Oversee and manage external counsel, with a strong emphasis on quality control, scope discipline, fee management and consistent execution standards across mandates
• Support the legal function on restructurings, workouts and recovery scenarios, including documentation of revised terms, security re-perfection and co-lender co-ordination, with appropriate management of external counsel

On-going management

• Advise on ongoing portfolio company matters including amendments, waivers, consents, refinancings and restructurings
• Manage external legal counsel on portfolio workstreams, ensuring that scope, output and cost remain proportionate to the underlying credit position and the platform's commercial objectives
• Prepare or co-author concise memoranda and updates for the EMAC investment committee, executive committee and co-lender groups on legal risk, structuring options and recommended action

Governance and reputational risk

• Support the platform's consideration of governance, conflicts and reputational risk matters as they arise across origination and portfolio management, working closely with the wider EMAC team, compliance and risk
• Contribute to platform governance documentation, conflicts protocols and the legal aspects of investor and stakeholder engagement on sensitive matters

Fund-level legal support

• Provide secondary support on fund-level legal workstreams including fund documentation, investor side letters, regulatory filings and compliance matters, working alongside the wider EMAC legal team

You should consider applying if you have:

• 7-10 years of relevant experience in leveraged finance, structured finance, principal credit investing or a closely related discipline - ideally with a combination of sell-side origination and buy-side or principal execution
• A demonstrable track record of originating and closing privately negotiated credit transactions, with evidence of relationships that are genuinely portable
• Deep sector expertise across at least two of the following: consumer and retail, business services, real estate (including REITs and property finance), industrials, and core+ infrastructure (energy, transport, utilities, social infrastructure)
• Strong credit structuring skills - fluency in capital structure design, security packages, financial covenant setting and relative value assessment
• Experience working on South African transactions with an understanding of local market dynamics, regulatory frameworks and the domestic banking and credit landscape
• Comfort operating across the full deal cycle, from teaser review and NDA through term sheet negotiation, credit approval and documentation oversight
• A CFA, CA(SA), MBA or equivalent professional qualification is advantageous; a strong undergraduate foundation in finance, economics or law is expected

Some of the attributes we look for in a person:

• The ability to build and maintain meaningful relationships
• High conviction and be comfortable sharing opinions
• Investment lead and passionate about markets