Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa, accounting for 18.4% of total African GDP in 2021; it is also an important jurisdiction for many of ALN’s clients, so it’s crucial for the alliance to be represented in Nigeria, said Karim Anjarwalla, ALN Board Director and Senior Partner, ALN Kenya.
“This development is a crucial turning point for ALN. It significantly increases its response to clients’ needs and will enhance ALN’s capabilities and standing in the market. It also builds on the solid foundation that ALN has developed over the years for its pan-African offering,” Anjarwalla explained. “In this way, ALN continues to offer a unique blend of global skills and expertise and local know-how, based on collaboration between leading African law firms, including Aluko & Oyebode. Many Nigerian corporates are now establishing pan-African businesses, and ALN looks forward to being able to support them as they do business across Africa.”
ALN has known Aluko & Oyebode for many years and has worked successfully with them in the past. This specific partnership came about because of a shared vision. “Aluko shares ALN’s vision of being able to support our clients wherever they are seeking to do business in Africa and so they were a natural fit to join ALN,” Anjarwalla commented. “They combine global excellence with deep local know-how, a combination which is characteristic of ALN firms.”
Aluko & Oyebode is a large, dynamic law firm which is continually developing its own firm and practices, and ALN anticipates that Aluko & Oyebode will proactively participate in everything ALN does. “ALN has always led the market in terms of identifying new opportunities and developing our offering, and we can see that Aluko will add to that strategy given their own vision, strength and size,” Anjarwalla shared.
“ALN’s ability to work seamlessly across borders and to project manage multi-jurisdictional deals is becoming a key differentiator for us in supporting our clients,” he said, explaining that many of the deals they are managing involve different legal systems, regulatory regimes and ways of doing business which add complexity and potential delay to any transaction. “The fact that we can coordinate all of this under one demonstrates the power of ALN’s integrated offering – One Vision, One Region, One ALN.”
Aluko & Oyebode’s addition to the alliance significantly expands ALN’s West African offering. As the largest law firm in Nigeria with deep bench strength in specialist areas and a strong regional presence, Anjarwalla says the firm is already advising its own clients across West Africa and thus has the experience to help ALN’s clients. “This, combined with our expanding Francophone offering through ADNA (our integrated law firm member covering the Francophone region), means that we are well placed to be able to support our clients doing business in both English and French-speaking West Africa,” Anjarwalla concluded.
This article was first published by Africa Legal.
