Folake Elias-Adebowale

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Folake Elias-Adebowale is a partner and co-heads Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie's private equity, corporate advisory and oil and gas teams. Her areas of specialisation include cross-border and domestic acquisitions, divestments and restructurings, and compliance matters.

She advises private equity houses, consortia of financial investors and conglomerates on diverse transactions and matters across the food, beverages, manufacturing, petrochemicals, insurance, agro-allied and petroleum sectors, among others. Recent transactions include investments in the largest urea fertiliser manufacturer plant in sub-Saharan Africa; one of the largest FMCG transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa; the acquisitions of a listed bank, a listed insurance company, various petroleum assets, an E&P company and various companies across the food and beverages and agro-allied sectors including wheat milling and pasta manufacturing assets; and the combination of three global companies’ non-alcoholic ready-to-drink bottling interests into Africa’s largest soft drink bottler. She also routinely assists potential and existing petroleum sector participants with acquisitions, divestments and local content compliance.

She is co-chair of AVCA’s legal and regulatory committee and represents the firm on EMPEA’s legal and regulatory council. She was a member of the committee inaugurated by the Ministry of Trade and Investment for the development of the private equity and venture capital sector in Nigeria. She has written and co-written articles on private equity, investment M&A and oil and gas for the IFLR, the ICLG, the International Law Office’s oil and gas newsletter, the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law publication and EMPEA’s legal and regulatory bulletin, among others.

Folake graduated from Somerville College, Oxford University with a degree in Jurisprudence, and obtained a master of laws degree from University College London. She is a member of the Nigerian Bar. She is ranked as a leading lawyer in Chambers and the IFLR1000 and commended by Who’s Who Legal and The Lawyer’s Africa Elite Private Equity Report.