Leading African law firm Bowmans has appointed construction specialist Bavesh Pillay as a partner in its Johannesburg-based Construction Practice with effect from 1 March 2022.

Pillay returns to Bowmans where he began his career as a candidate attorney and spent eight years moving up the ranks to the position of senior associate before leaving in 2016.

He has specialist knowledge of the intricacies of complex construction and professional services contracts and has a sound understanding of the legislative and regulatory frameworks for construction procurement. He also has a strong commercial background and significant project finance knowledge, including of funding instruments such as bonds, facility agreements and direct agreements.

Bowmans chairman and senior partner, Ezra Davids, says: ‘We are delighted that Bavesh has chosen to come back to Bowmans. He is skilled in areas that are critical for growth and development across the continent.’ 

Pillay has led or worked on projects in a broad range of sectors, including energy, infrastructure, transport and commercial property. Many of these projects have been run in African jurisdictions outside of South Africa, notably Ghana, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda. Examples include a new data centre in Lagos, Nigeria, a major mall development in Kampala, Uganda, a road construction development in Liberia and a hotel development in Accra, Ghana.

He has an LLB, awarded cum laude by the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and an LLM from Harvard University’s Law School.

Davids concludes, ‘Bavesh’s considerable experience in Sub-Saharan Africa will supplement that of our already strong construction team and be an excellent asset to our clients.’