Trinity News

Introduction

Welcome to the April 2012 edition of Focus.

In our main article this month we take a look at the impact of the Eurozone crisis on transactions taking place in Africa.  The article was written by our newest Associate, Ana-Katarina Hajduka and published this month in Financier Worldwide Magazine.  In this month’s ‘Legalese’, Senior Associate Kaushik Ray takes a look at the recent Court of Appeal decision to give effect to guarantees created in the course of a chain of emails.

New joiner

We welcome to the Trinity team Nicola Ezra. Nicola is a highly experienced specialist in international corporate banking, project and leveraged finance and debt restructuring, with particular emphasis in TMT and infrastructure finance. She has acted as lead counsel to major commercial and multilateral financial institutions, corporate borrowers and sponsors on a wide range of single and multi-sourced financings, notably in Central & Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific jurisdictions, North America and Africa.  Nicola qualified as a solicitor in the UK in 1989 and has practised with leading English and North American Law firms.

Closed deals

In the first quarter of this year, we closed or signed documentation in relation to the following transactions:

– the refinancing of a leading Africa-focussed infrastructure fund, acting for a series of multilateral and development bank lenders (closed 28th March 2012)

– the financing of a landmark retail and commercial development in Accra, Ghana (signed 15th March 2012)

– the sale of a non-emergency patient transport business to a pan-European private equity house (closed 24th February 2012)

New instructions

We have been instructed on the following new matters in the past two months across our various practice areas:

Oil & Gas

– advising an Australian energy company in relation to an oil and gas transaction in Tanzania

– advising a developer in relation to a UK-based petroleum storage facility

 Infrastructure

– advising a leading South African bank in relation to the financing of a $700m rail project in Malawi and Mozambique

 Financial institutions and trade finance

– advising two European DFIs in relation to a loan to a Namibian micro-finance institution

– advising an African bank in relation to a pre-export financing in the Republic of Congo

– advising a leading development bank in relation to a loan to a Namibian micro-finance institution

 Power sector (including renewables)

– advising the developer in relation to a proposed solar plant in Ghana

– advising lenders in relation to a solar power bid under the South African REIIPP programme

– advising a leading African power developer in relation to a gas-fired power station in Namibia

Real estate

– advising a leading Rwandan private sector developer in respect of structuring a major real estate development in Kigali

Private equity

– advising the vendors of a non-emergency patient transport business to a pan-European private equity house

Apart from the above, we continue to work day-to-day on transactions in Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mauritius, South Africa, Zambia, Madagascar, Uganda, Tanzania, Liberia and Nigeria as well as in the UK and Romania in all sectors noted above.

Getting in touch

As ever, if you have any comments or questions about Trinity, about Focus, or generally, please get in touch.

You can follow us on Twitter @TrinityIntLLP.

Finally, for those of you celebrating – Happy Easter and Happy Passover!