Africa
In addition to our offices in Johannesburg, South Africa and Casablanca, Morocco, our Africa Group includes over 150 lawyers from across our network of offices in key hubs across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the Americas.
Over the past 30 years, our team, together with selected local counsel, has advised clients on numerous large-scale international transactions across the African continent, providing an integrated service for clients doing business in the region. We advise international organisations, investors, banks and African corporations on their business activities across the continent – in the past two years we have advised in 45+ jurisdictions in Africa.
Drawing on both common and civil law capability, our team assists on projects, banking, corporate, litigation and arbitration matters, with particular expertise in the financial, energy, infrastructure, mining, telecoms and technology sectors. From an infrastructure perspective, we act for sponsors, developers, project companies and financiers on all aspects of development, construction operation and maintenance, feedstock supply, offtake and financing of an asset. In addition, we work on mandates across all major product lines, including corporate/M&A, restructuring, general lending, arbitration and disputes.
Clients who are working on deals in Africa need an all-round vision and awareness of the African market. We understand issues from various perspectives and can apply this experience to the advice we provide; anticipating potential problems to save time and money. Our clients can tap into our knowledge of African issues acquired through significant local experience, with the result that our lawyers understand the legal, political, socio-economic, and commercial environments of the different African countries where our clients do business. In addition, we have developed longstanding relationships with local counsel across Africa through direct transactional experience, secondments, training programmes, and know-how initiatives, which in turn gives clients access to high-quality local legal advice as part of a consistent and seamless service.
Our exposure to transactions in each sub-region throughout Africa means that we are familiar with the various intricacies that present themselves on-and off-deal, as well as the legal and regulatory landscape. Our unrivalled experience and market insight means that we know what our clients in this region want and how they like to work.
Countries we cover in Africa:
Key contacts
News and insights
News: 13 March 2024
Allen & Overy and Standard Chartered launch second edition of Guide to Payment Regulations
Allen & Overy and international banking group Standard Chartered have launched the second edition of Guide to Payment Regulations for corporates and fintech customers navigating the evolving payments…
Publications: 26 February 2024
New tax laws affecting preference share transactions
Preference shares can very often be a preferable funding instruments, as an alternative to ordinary equity and debt funding, due to the fact that (a) they provide the holder with fixed dividends and…
News: 13 February 2024
Allen & Overy has advised the managers on African Development Bank’s USD 750 million perpetual subordinated hybrid capital notes. The Notes have an initial coupon of 5.75% until August 2034.
Publications: 06 February 2024
Mining in Africa and its role in the global energy transition
Unlocking Africa’s critical minerals potential
Awards & accolades
- Winner of ‘Moroccan Law Firm of the Year’ at the 2023 Chambers Africa awards
- Africa Mining Deal of the Year 2021 – Tri-K Gold Mine – IJ Global 2022
- Africa Transport Deal of the Year 2021 – Côte d’Ivoire Port – IJ Global 2022
- Renewables Deal of the Year 2021 – Redstone CSP, South Africa – IJ Global 2022
- Europe and Africa Legal Adviser of the Year 2021 – IJ Global 2022
- #1 Legal Adviser for Sub-Saharan Africa 2021 – Dealogic 2022
- Winner of ‘Africa Oil & Gas Deal of the Year’ at the 2021 IJ Global awards
Recognition
Highly ranked in all major legal directories including Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and IFLR across the region. Ranked ‘Tier 1’ for Emerging Markets.
The Legal 500 2022
Allen & Overy do have good knowledge; they partner with local lawyers. I have had a good experience on local and international levels across different jurisdictions.
Chambers and Partners 2023 – Global – Africa-wide
The team deals with the really complex things for us - they do full service.
Chambers and Partners 2023 – Global – Africa-wide
The firm “has a strong Africa desk with a proven track record of excellence.
Chambers and Partners 2022 – Global – Africa-wide
Ranked ‘Tier 1’ for Emerging Markets
The Legal 500 2022
Our global coverage
Click on the regions in the map below to find out more about the jurisdictions we cover across the world.
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Europe
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Africa
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Asia Pacific
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Middle East
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North America
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Latin America
In addition to countries where we have offices, we also have a number of International Desks advising clients on large scale international transactions in Europe.
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