Practice Area:

Corporate Finance, Investment and Acquisitions Group

• Representation before governmental & regulatory authorities
• General due diligence – not just on the corporation but also on would-be business partners
• Advice on investment, company laws and other applicable laws
• Advise on agreements, negotiations, operating guidelines etc

such other matters as may be considered necessary or appropriate towards ensuring the success of the project.

We also advise clients on money and capital market acquisitions, along with acquisitions of equity interests in Nigerian public and private enterprises.

We recently acted as local legal advisers in the flotation on the London Stock Exchange of a company that proposed to exploit oil prospecting and production licenses in Nigeria.

Generally, we have been advising over the years a wide variety of non-Nigerians (Lawyers and businessmen alike) on Nigeria’s changing investment regime and other related issues that might be of concern to would-be investors.

Banking and Finance Group

We act for several of the leading merchant and commercial banks and financial institutions in Nigeria. We also act for various institutional lenders and borrowers.

Work rendered to these institutions includes the preparation of banking and security documentation, project financing, takeover financing, international trade issues, advice on Nigeria’s banking and monetary legislation and litigation arising from any of the above issues.

There is a lot of synergy between this group and the Corporate Finance, Investments and Acquisitions Group.

General Commercial Group

The complexity of modern business transactions means that corporations require good legal guidance more than ever before.

We act for several of Nigeria’s largest corporations as well as many smaller entities. We also act for multi-nationals and international clients with interests in Nigeria.

Our work in this area includes advice on company law issues, intellectual property, admiralty, insurance, insolvency, probate, property, tax and other commercial relationships. In all matters, we bring our expert knowledge to bear within a framework of commercial understanding.

Natural Resources

We advise on projects and ventures in the field of petroleum and other natural resources development.

Clients include those engaged in on-shore and offshore pipeline contracts, drilling rig operations, platform construction and maintenance, government corporations, oil exploration, marketing and services companies

We have advised clients on a wide range of matters including:

• managing oil concessions i.e. oil Prospecting Licences (OPL) & Oil Mining Leases (OML) profitably
• managing relationships - Joint Operating Agreement, Farmin Agreement, Technical Services Agreement, MOU etc
• the floatation of an oil concessions on the London and Irish Stock Exchanges
• disputes over an oil spill with regard to environmental, compensation and liability issues
• dispute over oil rig operations

Litigation, Arbitration & ADR Group

Two of our partners, Babajide Ogundipe & Mohammed Belgore are qualified arbitrators, having been elected as Fellows of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (one of the world’s premier arbitration bodies). Messrs Ogundipe & Belgore became Fellows in 1994 and 1997.

Our firm is the only firm in Nigeria, which possesses two such qualified persons, both of whom have had a number of years of practical experience in the conduct of commercial arbitration.

Both Messrs Ogundipe & Belgore have acted as counsel and arbitrator in a number of arbitrations. In addition, our Mr. Sofunde (a Senior Advocate of Nigeria since 1988) has had considerable arbitral experience, both as counsel and as arbitrator, during his twenty-five years of legal practice.

Both Messrs Ogundipe & Belgore are approved tutors of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and they have conducted training courses organised by the Institute here in Nigeria and both delivers papers and speaks to audiences widely within Nigeria on arbitration.

Litigation

We are always mindful of the client’s objectives – to do good business and stay out of the courtroom.

We do not and will not rush a client’s matter needlessly to court. Rather through our familarisation with the client’s business, through timely and experienced advice, we make every attempt to avoid disputes and ensure that litigation is only a last resort.

This approach has proved to be invaluable to clients in that it preserves business relationships which might otherwise be severed as a result of litigation and is both time and cost effective.

Should litigation however become inevitable we have a formidable team of legal practitioners who have demonstrated over the years, their ability to conduct cases at the highest levels of our judicial system.

we have collectively over 100 years of top level litigation experiencetwo of our partners are Senior Advocates of Nigeria,we are one of less than five firms in Nigeria with two Senior Advocates.

We proceed with litigation with the full support of the firm’s considerable resources and notable talent of its professional staff.