Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance hires leading Nigerian lawyer to strengthen its Nigerian practice

International law firm Clifford Chance announced today that Olamide Oladosu has joined the firm's leading Nigerian practice as a director, based in the firm's London office.

Olamide Oladosu is a qualified lawyer in Nigeria and will be re-qualifying as an English solicitor. He joins from Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria (RMB), where he held the position of General Counsel. In this role, which he held from 2014, Olamide provided advice on a broad range of transactions including infrastructure finance, M&A, debt capital markets and helped establish the RMB stockbroking subsidiary in Nigeria.

Anthony Giustini, Regional Managing Partner for Africa, said:

"Our Nigerian and Anglophone West Africa practice has an impeccable reputation and track record. In an ever more challenging competitive and economic environment, Olamide's understanding of the market will further strengthen our leading practice as we help our clients – both international and Nigerian – to navigate the risks and opportunities of this new landscape. He will also help us strengthen further our relations with the top Nigerian firms."

Edmund Boyo, Head of Clifford Chance's Nigerian practice, added:

"We are delighted that Olamide has chosen to join Clifford Chance. His experience and network will be invaluable to the firm's Nigerian practice and to its clients, as will his deep understanding of the market."

Clifford Chance has a top-ranked Nigerian practice, regularly advising international and Nigerian clients on some of the most complex, high-profile mandates thanks to its international reach, extensive experience and expertise. In Nigeria, Clifford Chance has relevant experience in a variety of industries including banking, energy, natural resources, infrastructure, private equity, telecoms, and across a full range of legal services from project finance to capital markets, lending, private equity, corporate/M&A and arbitration. It is recognised for its ability to deliver international market practice in the Nigerian business environment to international and Nigeria-based businesses.

Recently, the firm advised Dangote Industries Limited on the acquisition of Twister B.V., an engineering company. It also advised 15 lenders on financing of the Azura-Edo power plant.

Olamide Oladosu said:

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time at RMB, where I worked on great projects, with great people. I am now delighted to join Clifford Chance, where I look forward to working with teams in all practice areas and all offices that play an active part in the development of Clifford Chance's ambitious Nigerian practice."

Prior to his role at Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria, Olamide was previously a partner at Templars, a leading Nigerian law firm, where he worked with the Structured Finance, Energy & Project and Tax teams. He was the lead Nigerian law partner advising the project company on financing of Nigeria's pioneering, USD 1 billion Azura-Edo power plant, Nigeria's first fully privately financed independent power plant (IPP), as well as BTG Pactual’s USD 1.53 billion acquisition of 50 percent of Petrobras' African unit, with operations in Nigeria and Tanzania.