The Firm’s Africa Interest Group was created against the backdrop of rising (US$75–100 billion) foreign direct investment into growing economies on the continent.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is estimated to be growing twice as fast as that of South Asia and three times as fast as Latin America, while the IMF forecasts that six of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world from now until 2050 will be African nations.

Head of the Africa Interest Group Mukund Dhar says: “Africa will play an increasingly important role in the overall success of the Firm, just as Asia and Latin America have in the past.

“For that reason, it’s vital that we grow a team which is dedicated to the continued success of our work in Africa.

“As a Firm, we are uniquely placed to be riding this growth and wave of investment – we have offices or practice groups in each of the top 10 countries investing in Africa (the US, France, the UK, China, South Africa, the UAE, Germany, Switzerland, India and Spain), as well as in the top two investment destinations in Africa.

“We also have expertise in key growth sectors for Africa – including banking, infrastructure, mining, oil and gas, and telecommunications.”

Mukund became head of the Africa Interest Group in 2019, succeeding London Office Executive Partner Melissa Butler, who continues to play an active role in the group.

He says: “The ultimate vision of the Group is to firmly establish White & Case as a top tier, highly profitable practice, recognized across the board by clients, competitors and within the Firm as the experts in delivering high quality work in Africa.

“The Group includes a core group of partners who are predominantly focused on Africa, supported by broader stakeholders covering a broad range of practice areas, industries and regions.

“We meet frequently, helping to add some structure to the way we approach our Africa strategy, and providing a forum to discuss how we approach clients, where we need to reinforce our offering, and project delivery.

“In keeping with the Firm’s culture, we want our lawyers and other business professionals to feel they can use their initiative when it comes to finding out more about the various African markets, but the group is also here to help on the more complex issues, for example discussing our financials, target countries and cross-practice/sector collaboration opportunities.”

The Firm has been active in Africa for more than 40 years. We opened our first African office in Johannesburg in the mid-1990s with the latest addition being the Cairo office which opened in 2016. All of these historical moments cemented our commitment to the continent.

The Africa practice enjoyed continued success in 2020, with more than 500 lawyers from 31 offices across eight practices working on projects involving around 40 African countries: impressive statistics that go alongside the practice’s rapid growth and market-leading reputation.

“This reflects the Firm’s reputation for doing well in cutting edge emerging markets,” says Mukund. “Right now, it is perhaps the only remaining genuine emerging market in the world.

“We are very proud of our work in Africa and of our dynamic, thriving and highly profitable practice, involving high quality clients and matters across a broad range of practices, sectors and countries.”

The firm’s Africa practice has a strong market standing. Among other accolades, the Legal 500 ranked White & Case Tier 1 as foreign experts in Morocco, while our Cairo office was ranked Tier 1 for its Banking and Finance, Corporate, Commercial and M&A, Energy, Projects and Infrastructure practices.

The Firm was also named Best Law Firm in Africa for EMEA Finance in the Africa Banking Awards 2013-2020, and Band 1 in the M&A league table by deal count for the Middle East and Africa by Mergermarket in 2020.

In recent weeks, we were named African Legal Adviser of the Year at the IJGlobal Awards.

Mukund continues: “Some of our recent highlights include advising the Mozambique LNG (liquid natural gas) project, which is the largest ever project finance in Africa, and arguably the world, and acting for Trans Niger Oil and Gas on a US$1 billion M&A transaction involving oil and gas assets, and the Government of Zambia on a US$13 billion restructuring of its external debt.

“These few examples give a flavor of the type of work we’ve been doing on the continent in the last 12 to 18 months.

“It would be too easy to think of Africa as a monolith when, in fact, the type of work and market conditions vary greatly from country to country.

“On the one hand, you have markets like Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt which require you to operate within a sophisticated legal and regulatory framework; on the other hand, there are countries which are perceived as far more complex to do business in and where the rapidly evolving legal and regulatory framework presents challenges of a different kind.”

Looking ahead, Mukund is highly optimistic about the Firm’s potential for growth in Africa, even despite the challenging market conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He says: “Obviously Covid-19 has had the same terrible human and financial impact as it has worldwide, but the momentum that’s built across the continent and its need to grow is hard to stop.

“Despite the pandemic, we grew our business in Africa in 2020 and all the signs are that this growth will continue in 2021 at a faster pace, so I’m cautiously optimistic for the future.

“We’ve come so far, but in truth we’re only just getting started. That’s because the market, though different from country to country, hasn’t even reached the point where the huge amount of inbound investment slowly transforms into outbound investment, much like what we saw in China or other emerging markets. The opportunities are endless.”