Corporate and Commercial Practice

This practice area focuses on providing legal advisory and transaction services in relation to banking, remediation of troubled bank assets, debt recovery and insolvency; financing and refinancing transactions; project finance; acquisition finance; asset finance; development finance; Islamic banking; capital markets, corporate finance, swaps and other derivative transactions; corporate advisory including mergers, acquisitions, takeovers, corporate restructurings, private equity financing, and money market transactions; capital market transactions including capital raising (debt and equity), securities’ floatation, listings and collective investment schemes; due diligence including corporate governance, risk management and regulatory compliance.

MAJOR TRANSACTIONS

• Advised Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc (“Seplat”) on its over US$500 million global IPO and dual listing of its shares on the Lagos and London Stock Exchanges.
• Advised Neconde Energy Limited (“Neconde”) in connection with a USD $470 and upsized to US$720 million secured reserve-based lending from a syndicate of foreign and local banks.
• Advised Neconde on a USD $640 Million Corporate loan transaction
• Advised a Fund Manager on its N500M Money market fund.
• Advised on a N30, 000,000,000 Transcorp Hotel Plc fixed rate bond issue series.
• Advised on the financing of a multi million dollars multi – storey tower project in Lagos Island.
• Advising a London based Bank on a US$225 million facility to a Nigerian borrower for the acquisition of a jack up rig from Asia.
• Advised a mortgage company on its N28, 500,000,000 Offer for subscription via private placement.
• Advised a fund established in the Cayman Islands on its proposed investment of up to US$1 million in a company incorporated in Mauritius, which loan is to be utilised by the company’s Nigerian subsidiary.
• Advising Heritage Bank Company Limited in connection with the perfection of its security interests over the borrower’s assets to secure a N3.5 billion facility.
• Acted as legal advisers to Dansa Foods Limited, a subsidiary company of the Dangote Group, in connection with a US$40 million finance facility from African Export-Import Bank.
• Advising foreign institutional investors on cross-border arrangements in relation to trading in securities in Nigeria including corporate and government bonds.
• Advising a Fund Manager in respect of its $1 Billion Euromoney Fund transaction;
• Acted for Deap Capital Market & Trust Plc on its N8 billion public offer and several other public offers including an open-ended private equity fund.
• Advising a London based Bank on the lending of the sum of US$80 million to an EPC contractor in Nigeria for a pipeline project.
• Advised an indigenous conglomerate in connection with the negotiation of a US$242m facility from a Nigerian bank.
• Acted as legal advisers to a London-based bank in connection with US$40 million finance to Fidelity Bank Plc.
• Currently advising a major Nigerian oil and gas company on its intra-group corporate restructuring consisting of 15 different corporate entities operational in diverse sectors of the Nigerian economy.
• Advised an investor on its acquisition of a significant interest in a quoted construction company in Nigeria which is a subsidiary of a major European infrastructure group.
• Advised on a USD $585 acquisition of 45% interest in an OML
• Advised on the divestment of 80% interest in NNPC and Shell Trade UK from NOLCHEM under the first phase of privitisation in Nigeria.
• Advised on a merger transaction involving six banks
• Advised on the divestment of six subsidiaries of a bank.
• Advised on a merger transaction involving three insurance companies.