G Elias & Co is best in banking and project finance. "They do a lot of transactions, very active in banking and a lot for local banks," says a peer....
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G Elias & Co is best in banking and project finance. "They do a lot of transactions, very active in banking and a lot for local banks," says a peer. Size is an issue according to commentators, with some calling the firm a 'boutique', but it is known for quality on complex deals.
A domestic resources company says: "They are very professional organisation. We go to them for all big business deals using Gbolahan Elias mostly - they have a very good network in Nigeria and very good internal knowledge of our company." A domestic client for capital markets says: "They always manage to execute perfectly from their side, extremely good on documentation, very knowledgeable compared to many other law firms and very high ethics." One mild criticism is that the firm can be "sometimes a bit too thorough and academic".
In prestigious roles, Elias was engaged by Central Bank of Nigeria on its $3.3 billion quantitative easing programme and the Asset Management Company (AMCOM) to advise on its $20 billion bond issuance programme. Segun Omoregie advised UBA Trustees on Notore Chemicals Industries' $310 million asset-backed securitisation and UBA, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Asset Management and Diamond Capital and Financial Markets on a $2.67 billion bond issuance programme.
In financings, Elias, Fred Onuobia and Segun Omoregie advised Standard Chartered and United Bank of Africa (UBA) on a $1.1 billion financing for the NGL II Project, the largest oil financing in three years, the lenders on an $850 million acquisition financing to a Nigerian acreage owner and Greenfields Petrochemicals Park on the largest private financing of the year ($400 million) for the construction of an Ammonia-Urea plant.
In one M&A deal, Elias was advising Aureos Nigeria Advisers and Orwell Nigeria on Orwell International's $200 million merger with Africa Oilfield Services.
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