Aina Blankson has a smaller profile than some competitors among peers, although one notes that "they are coming up in capital markets". It gets very good feedback from clients where it wins plaudits in specialised fields....
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Aina Blankson has a smaller profile than some competitors among peers, although one notes that "they are coming up in capital markets". It gets very good feedback from clients where it wins plaudits in specialised fields.
One investment banking client says "they started with the market years ago... they have the most knowledgeable lawyers in investment banking and created a niche in this area". An M&A client says: "We have been working with them since 2004... they are very diligent, they did a joint-venture with a South African company and were very knowledgeable within Nigeria and outside Nigeria."
According to another client the firm is "highly confidential", "young" and "very committed and meeting deadlines". Associate Kingsley Sawyerr, former head of legal at Bayelsa State's public-private partnership (PPP) department who joined the firm in 2011, heads the corporate commercial department under Kehinde Aina and Harry Blankson.
In M&A the firm was engaged by a number of banks on mergers in the wake of the banking system's restructuring. Among the deals, Sawyerr advised Wema Bank and Wema Homes on its merger while Courage Isibor helped Intercontinental Securities and Intercontinental Finance and Investments on its merger.
In project finance, Kanyo Okoye and Sawyerr advised Protea Ghana, Barclays Ghana, Strategic African Securities and regular client Praxis Partners on a $35 million financing for the expansion of the Protea Hotel and financing for the Protea Hotel Takoradi.
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