INTERNATIONAL FIRMS FIRM BRIEFINGS Dentons
2012 Firm Overview Key partners
Paul Bugingo
Dentons operates through a network of formal non-exclusive associa- tions throughout the continent that includes some of the leading firms on the ground. The firm is often recommended for its corporate ex- pertise in energy and infrastructure and clients recommend Richard Macklin and Darren Acres, among others, for their “broad based skills and extremely good commercial viewpoint”. Paul Bugingo heads the practice out of London.
Matters The firm has recently been involved in the construction and develop- ment by Gulf Power of a diesel generation power plant on the Athi River in Kenya, funded by the IFC and OPEC Fund.
Stephenson Harwood
2012 Firm Overview Active jurisdictions
Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda
Highlight clients
Eland Oil & Gas, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dowans Holdings
Key offices London
Key partners Kamal Shah, Paul Phillips
Stephenson Harwood’s Africa practice is led by the multi-lingual Kamal Shah, who has considerable experience working in West and East Africa. The firm operates a secondment programme with the ALN and has an especially strong profile for litigation and disputes. The firm boasts niche expertise in fraud and asset tracing, commer-
cial arbitration, aviation, maritime and corporate, with a strong fran- chise in advising governments. Exemplary recent matters include the firm’s representation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in arbitration and Eland Oil & Gas on the acquisition of as- sets from Shell, Total and ENI in Nigeria.
Matters Kamal Shah led teams representing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Dowans Holding and Dowans Tanzania. The former is a long-running case launched in 2004 and concerning some $300 million, in which the NNPC is defendant in the UK courts against an attempt to enforce a Nigerian arbitration award made to IPCO Nigeria. In the latter, the firm is assisting the client against the Tanzanian Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO) in relation to the enforcement of an ICC arbitration award. A team led by Alex Davis was also advising insurer RSA Cargo in
litigation over a claim relating to the hi-jacking of the Anuket Emerald oil tanker off West Africa. The case involves Benin and Nigeria. On the non-contentious side, Tony Edwards and Jeremy Sheldon led a team for Eland Oil & Gas in an acquisition of a license and interests from Shell, Total and ENI. The deal was valued at $177 million.
Tauil & Chequer Advogados w/ Mayer Brown
2012 Firm Overview Active jurisdictions
Angola, Mozambique, Namibia
Key offices Brazil
Highlight clients Sonangol, Transocean Group, Maersk Oil
Key sectors Oil & Gas, Water, Sewage and Utilities
Law capability English, French, US,
Key partners Alexandre Chequer, Gonçalo Falcão
Tauil & Chequer Advogados has carved out a strong expertise in An- gola in particular, where it began working in 2000 advising the Angolan government in drafting the Oil & Gas Regulatory Package and has since spent much time working with Sonangol, Chevron, BP, Total and ENI drafting project regulations. The firm maintains an alliance with CFRA Advogados and CK Advogados in Angola.
Matters Alexandre Chequer, Salim Saud and Gonçalo Falcão were in the driving seat for the firm’s mandates. In 2012/2013 the team was advising Mercury Telecomunicações (Sonangol) on a $1 billion infrastructure project to set up an off-shore optic cable network to connect off-shore working sites. For Transocean Group, the firm assisted on the corporate restruc-
turing of its Angolan entities, while in 2013 the firm was also advising Tidewater/Sonatide (Sonangol) on the establishment of a joint-venture to provide marine services within the oil sector. A fourth matter saw the firm working with Maersk Oil to devise a contractual structure, in negotiations with national concessionaire Sonangol, for the develop- ment of off-shore Angola Block 16 Chissonga Discovery. The project is valued at $4-5 billion.
Trinity International
2012 Firm Overview Key partners
Paul Biggs, Simon Norris
Trinity has an exclusive focus on Africa and comes highly recom- mended particularly for power projects and project finance in Anglo- phone and southern Africa, as well and for its work on behalf of development finance institutions. It is one of the most often recom- mended firms in the energy and infrastructure space, with Paul Biggs and Simon Norris receiving wide praise.
Matters The firm was advising the lenders to Vestas to fund the installation, commissioning and maintenance of 365 Vestas V52-850KW as part of the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project in Kenya and on a rail infra- structure project in Malawi and South Africa. Also in Kenya, the team again acted for lenders on project financing for Or Power 4 in connec- tion to the Olkaria III geothermal power complex. In West Africa, the firm was retained by Azura, the developer of an
IPP (independent power producer) project in Nigeria, in relation to the privatisation of the electricity sector and was also advising clients in relation to Tullow Oil’s $2.9 billion farm out of licenses in Uganda to Total and CNOOC.
22 ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE | SUB SAHARAN AFRICA 2013
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