NIGERIA

Law Firm of the Year

We were founded in 1994 and have become one of Nigeria’s leading business law firms. We have always had an international outlook. We have a reputation for, and an outstanding record of, carrying out critical, innovative and complex work to the highest standards of excellence.

We have advised and represented our clients on several of the most significant recent developments in Nigerian business law practice. We do corporate, financial, disputes, tax, energy, projects and commercial law work. Our corporate work includes mergers and acquisitions, compliance, private equity and employment practices. Banking, financial markets, derivatives and insolvency law are central elements in our finance practices. Our disputes practices include litigation, arbitration and administrative hearings. Our energy sectors are the oil-and-gas and electric power sectors. The real estate, transport and other infrastructure, construction and mining sectors are at the heart of our projects work. We work in both traditional and “new economy” commercial sectors. Our traditional commercial law work is on intellectual property, agribusiness, food and healthcare, trade and industry and transport. The “new economy” sectors are telecommunications

and technology, media and entertainment, and “Fintech”.

Our clients in these practices and sectors are of many nationalities and every size. They range from foremost global multinational enterprises to ambitious, home-grown fledglings, from governmentcontrolled enterprises (we have advised on numerous privatizations) to companies controlled entirely by private sector actors.

We have and maintain complementary contacts in Nigerian business and government circles, and with law firms and lawyers’ organizations based both in and outside Nigeria. We are a member of the Africa Legal Network (ALN), an association of leading independent law firms founded and based in Africa.

We regularly advise and represent clients on several of the most sensitive, large, complex, novel and critical matters in our market. Some of the recent highlights of our practice are the following:

• the merger of the Sokoto Cement Company of Northern

Nigeria Plc and the Kalambaina Cement Company Limited (the merged entity had a “market cap” just short of USD1bn);

• the sale for USD420mm to a Kellogg entity of a controlling stake in Nigeria’s largest food products manufacturer (Tolaram (Indomie Noodles));

• the acquisition by a leading global Chinese investor of a controlling stake in Nigeria’s leading, USD1.5bn, deep-sea port developer;

• crude oil forward sale financings for an aggregate total of over

USD3bn for Shell, Chevron and Total petroleum entities;

• ICSID and ICC Paris investor arbitrations for over USD2bn in aggregate value against Nigerian Federal governmental defendants;

• the up to USD2bn rehabilitation by a consortium of leading multinational enterprises of the nation’s principal North-South railway;

• over USD3bn worth of currency swaps and securities lending deals for leading global North American and Asian financial institutions;

• largest insolvencies, with an aggregate value of USD3bn, in the

Nigerian aviation (on the creditor side), telecommunications (mainly on the debtor side) and oil-and-gas (for the creditor) sectors;

• a mass housing programme by Echostone, a North American developer, to build 50,000 homes nationwide annually;

• initial public offerings for leading telecommunications and technology sector operators;

• the largest loan ever from a multilateral lender to a Nigerian bank (USD750mm from the African Export-Import Bank to the

Bank of Industry);

• a pioneering USD742mm transaction to exchange NNPC-First

E&P crude oil for Schlumberger Group oilfield services;

• the defence of a leading global manufacturer of consumer products in a series of product liability claims for an aggregate total of over USD5trillion;

• a large pioneering bond offering programme by the Nigerian

Mortgage Refinance Company, a government-backed secondary mortgage financier;

• a thermal 950MW IPP in Northern Nigeria for the BUA Group-

Siemens Consortium; • advice on structuring the development of the nation’s largest industrial city with a deep sea port on 15,000ha of land; and

• Nigeria’s largest gas sales agreement to an independent power project owner (by Seplat Plc to the Azura IPP project).

G. ELIAS & CO. 6 Broad Street Lagos, Nigeria Tel: +2341 4607890 2806970 Email: gelias@gelias.com

PROF. GBOLAHAN ELIAS, SAN PRINCIPAL PARTNER

• 6, Broad Street, Lagos Island, Lagos • +234 1 4607890, +234 1 2806970 • +234 (0)803 402 3878 • gbolahan.elias@gelias.com • www.gelias.com

FRED ONUOBIA MANAGING PARTNER

• 6, Broad Street, Lagos Island, Lagos • +234 1 4607890, +234 1 2806970 • +234 (0)803 402 3879 • fred.onuobia@gelias.com • www.gelias.com