Udom & Udom is a firm of Corporate Legal Practitioners registered in 1985 with corporate offices in Victoria Island, Lagos, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State, and Associate offices in Abuja (the Federal Capital Territory).
The firm is involved in general legal practice, with a particular bias towards corporate and commercial matters, and civil litigation.
The Partners and Associates specialise in such diverse areas of law, as Investment Law, Banking, Maritime and Shipping, Insurance and Reinsurance, Aviation, Petroleum and Gas, Energy, Telecommunications, International Contracts and Trade, Real and Intellectual Properties, and various other facets of legal practice.
The firm has in its fold reputable professionals with membership in various professional bodies, such as, the Nigerian Bar Association, the International Bar Association, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London and Nigeria), the Institute of Energy Law, the Nigerian Gas Association, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, the Nigerian Capital Market Committee, the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce and the Nigerian – American Chamber of Commerce to mention a few.
The firm has retainership arrangements with reputable companies and organisations in Nigeria and in some major countries of the world and extensively services it's clients' needs in the diverse fields of corporate and commercial law.
These services have included, Business Development and Finance, Aviation/Aerospace, Property, Industrial Relations, Maritime and Shipping documentations, Banking and Insurance documentations, Oil and Gas contracts and concessions, Winding up and Receiverships, Amalgamations, Mergers and Acquisitions, Debentures, Mortgages, loans syndication, Trusts and Settlements, Contracts of Indemnity and Guarantee, Capital issues, Cross-border aircraft leasing and financing, establishment of Nigerian subsidiaries to foreign Companies and Organisations, Concessioning of Public Utilities, Licencing and Regulatory Compliances, Debt recovery and factoring and civil litigation.
MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
Udom & Udom Securities and Corporate finance practice has witnessed a rapid growth over the past few years spanning through such areas as public offerings of equity, debt and asset-backed securities, debt/equity swaps, and rights offerings. In addition to public offerings, the firm has vast experience in private placements of equity representing issuing houses, placement agents, stockbrokers and purchasers. Our corporate attorneys have extensive expertise in all areas of regulatory compliance including Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulations.
We have in this regard been involved as Solicitors in several Capital Market Issues and acted as transaction lawyers in some bank mergers during the banking reform exercise by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2005.
The firm has assisted several foreign investors in investment and divestment plans and has been involved in numerous loan workouts of all sizes, re-organisations, restructurings and other creative solutions to financial problems.
In 1996 our firm was appointed advisers to Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, one of the largest Pharmaceutical Company in the world, with regard to its proposed divestment from May & Baker Nigeria Plc. We were involved in all aspects of negotiations between the Paris Headquarters of RPR, May & Baker, UK the Securities and Exchange Commission in Lagos, the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the local stock brokering house and the Standard Chartered bank (Escrow accounts Managers) in London. We were also involved in drafting of a Memorandum of Understanding, Trademarks Assignment, Escrow Agreement, Processing Agreement, Agreement to use Trademarks, License Agreement and Co-operation Agreement. We also acted in the capacity of custodians of the 18,098,506 ordinary shares beneficially owned by RPR throughout the duration of the negotiation. We reviewed and advised on several documents and letters including the Memorandum and Articles of Association of May & Baker Nigeria Plc., and represented RPR in related litigations.
In the area of Telecommunications, we have over the past several years represented Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautique (SITA) a major global airline telecommunications and information organisation as legal advisers covering the West African sub-region. In this capacity we have advised in all aspects of regulatory compliance and have been recently involved in the Corporate restructuring of the organizations Nigerian and West African operations.
We are involved in the review of all telecommunications and other agreements, leases and contracts between SITA and the Nigerian regulatory authorities and other parties.
In 2005 and 2006 we acted as lead transaction lawyers representing Hivotel, a telecommunications subsidiary of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), in concessioning PHCN’s power infrastructure to some private telecommunications companies for the laying of broadband fibre optic cables to create a national broadband network.
In the area of Banking and Finance, we have represented most major banks and finance institutions in the Country in diverse aspects of banking documentation, loan syndication, mortgage and debentures, and civil litigation.
In the area of Property and Real Estate development, our firm was appointed as Solicitors for the Mayfair Estate in Lagos, developed in the Site and Service program of Lagos State. In this regard, we gave legal advise and drafted all legal documentation for the various transactions in the scheme.
Our firm has the leading Aviation Law practice in the country. We have considerable experience in Cross-Border Aircraft leasing and finance and have been involved in transactions in this area with companies like Raytheon Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas, ATR of Toulouse, France, GECAS of Shannon, Ireland, Export Development Canada, Cessna Finance Corporation of Wichita, Kansas, to name a few, in collaboration with international Law firms like Clifford Chance LLP, Clyde & Co., and Hogan & Hartson. We have represented foreign aircraft lessors on transactional issues including the enforcement of de-registration and export clauses in post default situations.
In Aviation related litigation, we have handled diverse cases prosecuting and defending accident claims, and negotiating settlements. Our firm has also worked with aircraft lessors and aviation regulatory authorities in championing legislation and regulations that protect the interest of the players in the industry.
In the area of Oil and Gas we were appointed legal advisers to the Government of Akwa Ibom State and all the oil producing communities in Akwa Ibom State to present the memorandum before the Justice Belgore Panel set up to look into the causes of disturbances in oil producing communities in Nigeria in 1992. In that capacity we reviewed all Memoranda presented by the oil producing companies, oil marketing companies, oil servicing companies, NNPC, PPMS, DPMS and other interested parties. We led evidence of witnesses before the Panel, cross-examined witnesses and presented an address on behalf of the Akwa Ibom State and its Oil producing communities. We were also part of the defence team for Akwa Ibom State in the celebrated “Resource Control” case at the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2002.
In 2002, we were appointed as legal Advisers to Amakpe International Refineries Nigeria Limited, a private sector export refinery initiative and we acted in that capacity till 2007. During the period we were involved in the corporate restructuring of the company to meet the requirements of local and foreign creditor banks and the U.S EXIM Bank. We reviewed the Engineering, Procurement and Construction agreement and the Management agreement and attended meetings with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) leading to the granting by DPR of the approval to construct 12,000 BPSD petroleum refinery at Ibeno, Eket, Akwa Ibom State in 2004. We also acted as Solicitors to the Company in the private placement of 49,000,000 ordinary shares of the company in 2004.
We have in the past years carried out numerous assignments involving legal advice, legal opinion, litigation review of agreements and other documentation on behalf of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (the Nigerian subsidiary of Exxon-Mobil), African Petroleum Company Plc., Unipetrol Nigeria Plc. (now Oando Plc.), and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Our firm is currently promoting South Coast Petroleum Services Ltd., a company established in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, to participate in the downstream sector of Nigeria’s oil industry.
In 2005, our firm was retained by Exxon-Mobil to develop a database of Nigerian Laws and Regulations in the areas of Construction, Land and Property, Law Courts and Aviation. This resulted in a comprehensive compilation in several volumes of hard copies and compact discs of the laws, regulations, rules and guidelines highlighting, inter alia, the regulatory obligations, compliance instructions and penalties.
In the field of Electricity and Power Generation, our firm has been retained as External Solicitors of National Electric Power Authority of Nigeria later known as Power Holding Company of Nigeria, for several years and in that capacity had given legal opinion/advise and legal representation in Court covering several aspects of law relating to power generation and distribution in Nigeria. In the process of unbundling PHCN, we were involved in transactions aimed at leasing out dormant power infrastructure to private sector operators, in a public/private partnership.
One of our partners is a member of the Institute for Energy Law of the Center for American and International Law, and the Energy Committee of the Business Section of the Nigerian Bar Association.
In the field of Mining and Solid Minerals, our team of experts was retained by international Joint Venture investors engaged in the exploration and exploitation of Platinum and Palladium in the Republic of South Africa. Our vast experience in similar transactions in Nigeria has greatly enhanced our capacity to proffer sound legal advice on cross-boarder jurisdictional issues and in drafting the numerous transaction documents in compliance with the regulatory imperatives of that jurisdiction.
COMMUNITY / PRO BONO SERVICES
Through active participation in the Church, Rotary International and other community based services, the Partners have contributed immensely to several developmental initiatives within and outside Nigeria. The firm maintains a policy of rendering free legal services to indigent members of the society in matters bordering on fundamental rights, master / servant and other small claims litigation and mediation. |