Flavia Suubo

BACKGROUND

Flavia is a Principal Associate with the Corporate Advisory team and she previously worked with the tax department at Deloitte Uganda Limited for over four years. She specializes in tax advisory where she routinely advises on various tax heads including income tax, value added tax, withholding tax, rental tax and prepares submissions for clients before the Tax Appeals Tribunal.

Flavia also specializes in corporate advisory with specific emphasis on mergers and acquisitions across different sectors such as banking, insurance, telecommunications, gaming, and betting, food and beverages. She also advises on corporate restructurings, capital markets, private equity and oil and gas.

Flavia holds a 2nd Upper Class Bachelor’s Degree from Makerere University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre and an LLM with Distinction in International Business Law from the University of Liverpool.

She completed the International Introduction to Securities and Investment offered by the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and is a student of the Advanced Diploma in International Tax where she completed the first level of Principles in International Tax. Flavia has in the past been seconded to Deloitte Kenya Limited and Anjarwalla & Khanna LLP in Nairobi, Kenya.

MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

• Advocate, High Court of Uganda
• Member, Uganda Law Society
• Member, East Africa Law Society

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• LL.M (International Business Law), University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
• Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Law Development Centre, Uganda
• LL.B (Hons.), Makerere University, Uganda

CAREER SUMMARY

• 2019 – DATE      Principal Associate, MMAKS Advocates
• 2016 – 2019      Associate, MMAKS Advocates
• 2014 – 2016      Tax Consultant, Deloitte Uganda Limited
• 2011– 2014       Tax Associate, Deloitte Uganda Limited
• 2011                   Clerkship, J.B. Byamugisha Advocates

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

• Hodgson Law Scholarship, University of Liverpool
• Overall best student at the Post Graduate Bar Course, Law Development Centre

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions
• Capital Markets
• Energy, Natural and Renewable Resources
• Corporate Advisory
• Tax Advisory

TOP MATTERS

• Advising Leapfrog Strategic African Investments, LP, a private equity fund on its proposed acquisition of part of the majority stake in ICEA Lion Group, a leading East African insurance, asset management and investment services group. Including conducting legal due diligences on ICEA Lion Asset Management (U) Limited, ICEA Life Asset Company Limited (Uganda), and ICEA General Insurance Company Limited (Uganda), the Ugandan subsidiaries of the ICEA Lion Group and advising on the regulatory landscape for insurance and asset management in Uganda including all applicable statutory, and contractual consents, permit and approvals required for the transaction.
• Advising Arise BV, a private equity firm on its acquisition of shares held by Rabo Development B.V. and NorFinance AS in DFCU Limited, a company listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange and the sole shareholder of DFCU Bank Limited. Including advice on the viability of the transaction and the requisite approvals from the Bank of Uganda and the Capital Markets Authority.
• Advising Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij Voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V (FMO), in respect of the divesture of its interests in Bank of Africa Uganda Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Africa Group SA. The transaction involved advising on the transfer of shares in Bank of Africa Uganda Limited including obtaining various consents from the Central Bank and advising on the application of the recently domesticated Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa treaty in Uganda.
• Advising Siginon Group Limited, an integrated end to end logistics and air cargo solutions provider based in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda on its proposed acquisition of a 45% stake in Mahathi Infra (Uganda Limited), a special purpose vehicle set up to engage in the transportation of fuel in barges on Lake Victoria.
• Advising a government agency on the regulatory framework applicable to a proposed Public Private Partnership for the construction of the Kampala Storage Terminal. Our advice covers a cross section of regulatory issues including but not limited to petroleum, procurement of contracts with the government, environment matters, finance, etc.
• Advising an American multinational technology company that specializes in internet-related services and products, including online advertising and a search engine on the data protection legislation in Uganda applicable to an online automated developer/business customer identification and verification process that it intends to roll out on its business service customers.
• Advising a multinational oil company based in the United Kingdom on the legality and enforceability of the production sharing agreements and joint operating agreements it signed with the Government of Uganda.
• Acting for Samsung Electronics East Africa Limited in a tax dispute involving a Value Added Tax (“VAT”) assessment made against the Ugandan branch of Samsung for a sum of UGX 1,736,337,566/=. The Tax Appeals Tribunal agreed with our submission that services provided by the Ugandan branch to its head office in Kenya cannot be said to be a service delivered to “another person” since the two entities are one and the same for VAT purposes.
• Acting for a company offering sports betting and online casino business in a tax dispute involving a withholding tax assessment of UGX 18,728,580,175/= on casino and sport payments on the basis that withholding tax can only be imposed on payments of winnings and not stakes made by punters.
• Assisting various clients with challenging withholding tax assessments raised by the Uganda Revenue Authority pursuant to land acquisitions via different methods such as distribution of estates, gifts inter vivos and trustee arrangements.