Cleary Gottlieb has been named African M&A Adviser of the Year for 2007 by Acquisitions Monthly. The firm received this award above all other global advisers—both legal and financial—for its work in the region including its representation of Helios Investment Partners in the acquisition of a 22% stake in a $1.2 billion African telecommunications joint venture with Portugal Telecom. Other Cleary Gottlieb work highlighted included advising Renaissance Capital Group in its 24.99% minority investment in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, the parent company of the Ecobank Group, a leading regional banking group in West and Central Africa serving wholesale and retail customers, and advising ArcelorMittal in its $2.2 billion deal in Senegal for an integrated mining, port, railway and industrial project.
In discussing the complexities of handling African transactions, the publication underscored the need to clear myriad regulatory hurdles in a continent with more than 50 countries and said that “there are few legal advisers better equipped than Cleary Gottlieb to undertake the task.”
Acquisitions Monthly, a Thomson Reuters publication, focuses on key M&A developments in Europe, the United States and Asia.