Our legal work in Africa

Africa is one of the world's fastest growing emerging markets. It presents great opportunity and great risk. Our law firm has over 50 years’ experience on the continent and our lawyers work together as part of your team, to help you successfully navigate the continent’s unique business environments.

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We offer the full spectrum of legal services in Africa and regularly advise on large infrastructure and energy projects, multi-party PPP and project financing, complex Islamic financing, FINTEC, and private equity transactions specifically for African investors. Clients appreciate our global team of lawyers’ innovative and award-winning approach.

We are committed to building business in Africa and have more than 50 years of experience on the continent. We advise inbound, outbound, and pan-African clients on their strategic goals. We understand the complexities of Islamic finance, DCM, and FINTEC. And have led private equity offerings specifically for African investors.

Our unified global team has the know-how and cultural understanding necessary to support English, French, and Portuguese-speaking Africa from our global offices in Latin America, the U.S., Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

We work closely with law firms in 50 African countries. And we are committed to making a positive impact on local communities by investing in social enterprise and in-country capacity building.

Yes, we are brilliant at the law, but also passionate about the continent. Choose Hogan Lovells as your legal partner for Africa.

Key contacts

Arun Velusami

Partner

Arun Velusami

Partner

London

Olivier Fille-Lambie

Partner

Olivier Fille-Lambie

Partner

Paris

Alison Diarra

Lawyer and Head of Hogan Lovells Connect

Alison Diarra

Lawyer and Head of Hogan Lovells Connect

London

Meet the Our legal work in Africa team

Representative experience

A consortium of international banks as arrangers on the inaugural sukuk offering by the State of Senegal, the first of its kind in West Africa.

Acted as lead counsel in Sikhakhane Panel investigation, resulting from an employee complaint at a covert unit within South African Revenue Services.

Advise on the OHADA law's constitutional framework, which governs 17 French-speaking African countries.

Advise the States of Niger and Benin on award winning US$4.3bn West African rail loop project across Niger, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso.

Advised IFC and Société Générale as co-arrangers on the US$300m trade financing provided to fund oil imports in Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Mali.

Advised IFC on its Energy Access Fund (REAF). Microfinance fund provides debt finance to modern energy products and services to off-grid users in emerging markets.

Advised PPC Limited on their acquisition of various mining and quarry rights from a local entity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Advises Afrexim on a reserve base lending facility to support Eroton's US$1.2bn acquisition of OML 18, from several oil majors in Nigeria.

Advises BHPBilliton on regulatory, health and safety, and compliance issues resulting from rail infrastructure project linked to a mine in South Africa.

Advises Propertuity Developments on the award-winning Maboneng District project, a mixed-use development within a regeneration zone in Johannesburg.

Advising Frontier Mining (subsidiary of Eurasian Resources Group) on its power supply arrangements in Zambia and the DRC.

Advising SMRT Project and Energy Solutions limited on the development construction and financing of a solar project in Sierra Leone, including the drafting of related documents.

Advising a multi-asset energy and mining company in relation to power supply arrangements in Mozambique.

Advising a speciality chemicals company with export controls and sanctions issues in Sudan.

Assisting a public research university to operate online academic programs into East Africa.

Assisting the Africa Centre, London's international centre for Pan-African culture, with the legal work for the transformation of their Southwark headquarters.

Leading telecom providers such as Vodafone on all acquisition, merger, joint venture, disposal, and sale matters relating to cross-border transactions.

PEAS on its PPP with governments of Uganda, Rwanda, and Zambia to build, operate, and extend the capacity of secondary education into remote areas.

Represented a subsidiary of Telkom SA in Nigeria, on their dispute with Blue Label Telecoms regarding the termination of a Super Dealer Agreement.

SABMiller on its secondary placing and disposal of Tsogo Sun Holdings, a South African gaming, hotel, and entertainment group, valued at ZAR11.7bn.

Sponsors with negotiation of a joint development agreement between leading development banks for the Singrobo-Ahouaty hydroelectric project in Côte d'Ivoire.

We are acting for Rio Tinto on the construction and development of a new iron ore mine and associated infrastructure, including rail, road, and port.

We are the lead lawyers on the multibillion dollar Simandou project in Guinea.

We regularly advise banks such as Afrexim on multibillion dollar currency note programmes to facilitate international trade.

Advising China Baowu Steel Group on its investment in the Simandou mining and infrastructure (rail and port) project in the Republic of Guinea, reportedly the largest project of its kind in Africa at the time.

Awards and recognitions

Deal of the Year (Bayer AG acquires Monsanto Co)

2018

Associate of the Year (Darryl Jago)

2018

Hogan Lovells named Who's Who Legal Firm of the Year 2018 - Hogan Lovells received the award at a dinner in London on the evening of 8 May. In making its announcement, Who’s Who Legal said: “The firm boasts a prominent presence in the international marketplace with offices across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, and showcases the great depth of expertise on offer with 258 practitioners listed in our guides this year.”

2018

Winner of Pro Bono initiative of the year for the "Empowering Girls and Women initiative" which seeks to address gender-based violence (GBV), including by assisting victims of trafficking with applications for compensation through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA)

2017

Employment Law Team of the Year

2017

CSR Initiative of the Year

2016

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Key contacts

Representative experience

Awards and recognitions

Deal of the Year (Bayer AG acquires Monsanto Co)

Associate of the Year (Darryl Jago)

Winner of Pro Bono initiative of the year for the "Empowering Girls and Women initiative" which seeks to address gender-based violence (GBV), including by assisting victims of trafficking with applications for compensation through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA)

Employment Law Team of the Year

CSR Initiative of the Year

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