Mark Korten has practised as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa in the Division of the Northern Provinces for over 26 years. Mark holds the degree of Bachelor of Commerce, with majors in Accounting and Economics from the University of Cape Town. He also holds the degrees of Bachelor of Laws and a High Diploma (Masters) in Tax Law from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.

Mark has over 27 years experience specialising in tax and commercial law. He has extensive experience in the consideration, negotiation, structuring and drafting of various commercial transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, corporate restructuring, service agreements, leases, shareholders agreements, the establishment of various legal vehicles such as companies (including various types of companies in numerous jurisdictions such as Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Monaco, Cook Islands, Malta, Cyprus, Dubai, Hong Kong, Barbados, Liechtenstein, Mauritius, Seychelles, British Virgin Islands and the State of Delaware, USA), local and offshore trusts and hybrid partnership vehicles.

Mark’s specialisation in tax law relates to local and international estate planning, the international tax consequences of and South African exchange control issues relating to cross border transactions and international group structures, as well as tax experience relating to all types of transactions involving tax law in South Africa, including income tax, value added tax, capital gains tax, dividend tax, withholding taxes and the use of international double taxation treaties in tax planning.

Mark has been intimately involved with advising various international clients on various issues pertaining to South African and international law, including income tax, South African Exchange Control Regulations, death duty planning, and the emigration of individuals from South Africa to various locations, including Mauritius, Malta and the USA. He has extensive experience dealing with and advising clients on legal issues in the fields of fund management and related financial services, labour broking throughout Africa, the exploitation of intellectual property, commodity exploration, mining and construction activity into various African countries.

In the area of financial services Mark has advised on and assisted with the establishment and structuring of various licensed fund management companies and regulated funds registed in various jurisdictions such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Mark is also associated with Tax Risk Management Services, an international association specialising in tax litigation and transfer pricing in various African countries. Mark has been a commercial tax partner or consultant with the following South African law firms: Erasmus Korten Hiepner, Moss Morris, Routledge Modise, Eversheds Mauritius and co-founder of Korten Hiepner Faber Goërtz.

Mark currently holds a number of non-executive directorship positions in various international companies, including Adcorp Africa Ltd (a subsidiary of Adcorp Limited, a large Afican labour broker listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (“JSE”)), AIH International Ltd (a subsidiary of Attacq Limited a public company listed on the JSE), and AttAfrica Limited, a subsidiary of the Hyprop and Attacq (both listed South African REITs).

Mark and his family decided to emigrate from South Africa to Mauritius in late 2008 where he remains a permanent resident and has become a Mauritian national, being a jurisdiction which he has used for over 18 years for tax planning purposes. From 1 September 2008 to 31 December 2010 Mark was appointed as a Consultant to attorneys Eversheds in South Africa (previously Routlege Modise).

Mark was one of the first foreign lawyers to be licensed as such in terms of the Mauritian laws regulating foreign qualified legal practitioners. Currently Mark practises as an independent advisor and international tax consultant through a Mauritian incorporated firm called Korten Consulting Ltd, as well as acting as a director for various Mauritius based companies. From 2001 to 2007 Mark was an acting Chairman for the Special Board for Hearing Income Tax Appeals in South Africa. Mark is from time to time quoted in the South African press relating to taxation issues.

He has also written various articles for legal publications and is co-author of the book 2003 Exchange Control and Tax Amnesty published by Butterworths. He has been a presenter at various tax seminars in South Africa. Currently Mark is a guest lecturer in International Tax Planning on the LLM programme offered by the Thomas Jefferson School of Law at the University of San Diego, California in the USA. He is also a member of the South Africa-Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and the Mauritian Association of Trust and Management Companies.