Dentons is delighted to have won the 'Advisor of the Year – Single Deal Advisor' award at the Private Equity Africa Awards 2014. Dentons won the award for its role advising Indorama on its co-investment with Helios in the US$3bn Petrobras Oil & Gas JV, which was the largest private equity transaction in Africa in 2013.
The transaction was completed in four days and is testament to Dentons' ability to field experts in: private equity; oil and gas; African and international tax regimes; and bilateral investment treaties.
The work was led by Nicholas Plant, partner and head of Dentons' Private Equity practice in the UK and Africa, and Raj Kulasingam, senior counsel in Dentons' Energy practice. The Indorama team was led by Sanjay Agarwal based in London. Sanjay is an experienced private equity investor with significant experience of working in emerging markets (including Africa) and developed markets and in managing businesses in various jurisdictions.
This is the second investment that Sanjay has made on behalf of Indorama in Africa. Sanjay commented: "It was great working with the Dentons team who understand emerging markets transactions, were able to work well under significant time pressures and got to grips with a complex transaction very quickly."
In addition to acting on the largest private equity transaction in Africa in 2013, Dentons also acted on the second largest private equity transaction in Africa in 2013, advising the South African-based Macquarie-owned investment fund group African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) on the US$500 million Series C funding round in IHS Holdings (Africa's largest telecom towers group), co-investing with Goldman Sachs, Investec and Emerging Capital Partners. Richard Macklin, partner in Dentons' Corporate group in London, led this transaction.
Dentons has been the leading international law firm in Africa since the 1960s. We are deeply committed to Africa and have dedicated Africa teams in London and Paris, Canada, the US and the Middle East. Alongside our offices in Egypt and South Africa, Dentons has a unique network of associated offices spanning 20 African countries. Our global Africa practice advise on: M&A; energy & infrastructure projects; finance; financial services; private equity fund formation and investment; litigation; and tax. Dentons is also one of the top 10 largest law firms in the world. Clients benefit from more than 2,500 lawyers practising in more than 50 countries across the globe.
Nicholas Plant commented: "This award is testament to Dentons' preeminent position in Africa and our ability to handle the most complex private equity transactions. We were delighted to advise on this important transaction which will allow more oil and gas exploration and production throughout Africa."
Raj Kulasingam commented: "It was a great experience working with talented people on both sides of the transaction including Sanjay from Indorama, Henry Obi, Baba Soyoye and Sam Senbanjo from Helios. It was a joint effort on the part of the teams at Indorama and Helios that made such a significant deal happen in such a short timescale."
The Private Equity Africa Awards, now in their third year, celebrate the achievements of GP Investors and Advisors. This year the independent panel of judges included, among others, Arnaud de Cremiers, Partner at Adam Street Partners, Dushy Sivanithy, Principal at Pantheon Ventures, John Rowland, Managing Partner at White Lake, and Mark Florman, Director at Time Partners.
