Ako Law has been a big player in Tanzania over the years and one of its key attractions is its integration with Clyde & Co, allowing it to offer international standards and expertise.
Locally, the firm has taken a knock with the departure in late 2010 of Krista Bates, a leading key figure in the local corporate/commercial market....
[more]
Ako Law has been a big player in Tanzania over the years and one of its key attractions is its integration with Clyde & Co, allowing it to offer international standards and expertise.
Locally, the firm has taken a knock with the departure in late 2010 of Krista Bates, a leading key figure in the local corporate/commercial market. Bates left for a leading firm in Kenya and colleague Peter Huljich also left the firm with Bates. The departures have rocked the firm's reputation, leaving some clients unsure: "They lost a couple of very good people," says one.
Ako still dominates in tax with the well-known Kibuta Ongwamuhana. "The tax practice is still very, very strong with Kibuta. He is preeminent, head and shoulders above the rest," says an in-house counsel. In corporate, sources comment that the firm is "driving deals out of London, they do many trade, energy and aviation deals".
In top deals, Peter Gray and local senior associate Teresa Hettich advised Econet Wireless Global and its subsidiaries on a number of ongoing bridge financing from international institutions, so far totalling $139 million, to fund expansion plans primarily in Zimbabwe and Burundi.
London based Philip Rogers, again with Hettich, acted for the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) on international and local law aspects of the sale of its majority stake in KilomberoValley Teak Company to the Global Environment Fund in March 2011. Associates Lotus Menezes and Angela Mndolwa supported Gide Loyrette Nouel to advise Tanesco on Tanzanian regulatory and other issues for its Kinyerezi 240MW gas-to-power project.
[hide]