The inaugural tranche under the Safaricom’s MTN Programme was the largest corporate MTN Programme ever approved by regulators in Kenya. The green notes are Kenya’s second ever green bond and delivered the first fully digital investor applications via electronic and USD channels in the country’s debt capital markets. The pairing of sustainable finance and mobile enabled distribution to broaden access to reduced friction and set a new execution standard.

Aman & Partners
Bowmans

In-house: Safaricom, Stanbic Bank, Standard Chartered Bank

This represents Ethiopia’s first-ever public offering under the supervision of the recently established Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA), making it a historic moment in the development of the country’s newly established capital market. Secondly, the deal enables Ethio Telecom, one of Africa’s largest telecom operators by subscriber base, transitioned from a state-owned enterprise to a publicly traded share company, a transformation that had been attempted a few times and is now complete.

ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna
Tamrat Assefa Liban Law Office

This is Africa’s largest IPO of the year. The offering combines primary and secondary elements to support growth and deliver liquidity to a diverse shareholder base across numerous jurisdictions. The transaction demanded innovative structuring, bespoke conditions, and meticulous stakeholder alignment—legal engineering that turned a highly complex process into a record‑setting, confidence‑boosting milestone for African capital markets.

Bowmans
Freshfields
Linklaters
Milbank
Moelis & Company
Walkers
Webber Wentzel

The deal relates to the financing of the landmark acquisition of the entire shares of Shell Petroleum Company Nigeria by Renaissance Africa Energy Holding. The acquisition financing tested the newly gazetted Nigerian Upstream Petroleum (Assignment of Interests) Regulations, 2024. The transaction documents include ten security documents governed by the Nigerian, UK, Bahamian, and British Virgin Island laws.

Appleby
Banwo & Ighodalo
G Elias & Co
Harry B Sands Lobosky & Company
Odujinrin & Adefulu
Ogier
White & Case

This deal involves the merger between Canal+ and MultiChoice. It was a series of interdependent deals including a mandatory offer to acquire all outstanding MultiChoice shares, a reorganisation of MultiChoice South Africa to comply with broadcasting laws, the creation of a new entity to hold the broadcasting licence, and equity transfers. The transaction creates a hybrid media powerhouse across nearly 70 countries, blending CANAL+’s streaming expertise with Multichoice’s local production ecosystem.

Bowmans
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
DLA Piper
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
MDR Advogados
Udo Udoma & Belo Osagie
Webber Wentzel
Werksmans Attorneys

This deal required the negotiation of a single, harmonised share purchase agreement acceptable to four different buyers, each with distinct commercial priorities and risk appetites. The divestment was successfully completed through a block-trade sale to institutional shareholders requiring complex regulatory approval and engagement. Alignment of disclosure requirements across diverse statutory regimes introduced further complexity.

ALN Nigeria | Aluko & Oyebode
Banwo & Ighodalo
Clifford Chance
White & Case

This deal creates a replicable template for future hybrid financings in Africa and other emerging markets, particularly for large-scale infrastructure projects. It successfully combined both Islamic and conventional financing structures within one unified documentation - a rare and highly complex achievement. The transaction required coordination across multiple legal and regulatory regimes, and the involvement of diverse lenders added further complexity.

Clifford Chance
Hogan Lovells
Templars

In-house: African Export- Import Bank, Deutsche Bank

The deal pioneers Mozambique’s first utility-scale, grid-connected wind farm under a complex public-private partnership structure. It established a bespoke legal framework for renewable energy in a jurisdiction with limited precedent. The financing documentation with diverse DFCs and IFCs added further complexity. This landmark project sets a precedent for renewable energy in Mozambique and supports the country’s universal access and energy diversification goals. Also, it introduces a model for further large-scale infrastructure projects in emerging markets.

CGA - Couto, Graça e Associados
Clifford Chance
Pimenta & Associados, Miranda Alliance
Trinity International

The deal is a first-of-its-kind public-private housing finance structure in Nigeria. It is a close-ended fund sponsored by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated to provide affordable, long-term real estate mortgages at scale, aligned with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Housing Programme. It sets out a precedent for sovereign-backed Real Estate Investment Fund structures and creates a scalable channel for institutional investment into affordable housing, driving broad-based economic development.

Jackson Etti & Edu
Olaniwun Ajayi

In-house: ARM Investment Managers

This transaction is legally innovative for its interplay of cross-border restructuring and debt recovery laws, international asset tracing, and strategies to achieve legal solutions to distressed companies across jurisdictions. The transaction innovatively used the Nigerian court-appointed administration process to consolidate a fragmented restructuring effort.

Stren & Blen Partners
Ubuntu Legal

The loan financing is the Republic of Togo's debut financing from international commercial lenders under its Sustainable Finance Framework. It involves a combination of multilateral and private credit support, with the combination of both African Development Fund guarantee and private credit insurance from insurers. Legal & General were direct lenders, making them the first non-bank lender recipients of the guarantee.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Clifford Chance
Martial Akakpo & Associés

In-house: Deutsche Bank, Legal & General

This relates to epochal 100% divestment of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria by Shell International to Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings, a consortium of buyers. The transaction is one of the highest-value transactions that has ever taken place in Nigeria, requiring multiple financings and corporate considerations, including regulatory compliance.

Appleby
Banwo & Ighodalo
Clifford Chance
G Elias & Co
Higgs & Johnson
Odujinrin & Adefulu
White & Case

In-house: Shell  

This is the first US dollar-denominated equity offering and dual share listing by a financial institution in West Africa on the Nigerian Exchange and London Stock Exchange, leveraging the UK’s newly created regime for overseas companies. The transaction marks a landmark development in Nigeria’s capital markets, as it made Guaranty Trust Company has become the first Nigerian financial institution to have its ordinary shares listed on the London Stock Exchange under the equity shares category of the Official List of the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

ALN Ghana | N Dowuona & Company
ALN Nigeria | Aluko & Oyebode
Banwo & Ighodalo
Clifford Chance
Udo Udoma & Belo Osagie
White & Case

In-house: Guaranty Trust Holding  

This deal was the International Finance Corporation's first Islamic finance facility structured under a Murabaha model for Micro Small Medium Enterprises lending in Sub-Saharan Africa, setting a precedent for Sharia-compliant financing in a region traditionally dominated by conventional banking. It required adapting global Islamic finance standards to local Senegalese law and regulatory frameworks, which had not previously accommodated such structures.

Clifford Chance
International Finance Corporation
Lamane Partners

This is a $1.35 billion multi-tranche corporate financing which combines a $1.2 billion term loan and a $150 million revolving credit facility. This is one of the largest and most complex transactions in Nigeria’s energy sector in recent years, marking a critical moment for non-project-based funding in the LNG space. The deal sets a precedent for large-scale corporate financing structures outside traditional project finance.

A&O Shearman
Olaniwun Ajayi
Templars

In-house: African Export- Import Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, FirstBank, KfW IPEX-Bank, Nedbank, SMBC, Standard Bank Group, The Mauritius Commercial Bank  

The sustainability-linked facility involves a Naira denominated senior secured term facilities made available to a Nigeria-based subsidiary of Greenlight Planet/Sun King, by the International Finance Corporation and Stanbic IBTC Bank. To add to the complexity, the financing also involved the refinancing of US dollar debt owed by the US parent entity.

Banwo & Ighodalo
Dentons
Freshfields
Udo Udoma & Belo Osagie

In-house: International Finance Corporation, Standard Bank Group, Sun King

The deal required solutions in areas where the Ghanaian law and regulatory systems provided no established framework. The transaction developed a novel structuring approach that allowed the parties to achieve the intended commercial outcome without disrupting the charge’s priority status or triggering unintended regulatory consequences. This bespoke solution represented a first-of-its-kind approach for a transaction of this nature in Ghana.

AB & David
ALN Ghana | N Dowuona & Company
Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa & Ankomah
Dentons
JLD & MB Legal Consultancy

In-house: Zeepay

The transaction was the first successful public take-over of a listed company in Kenya in several years, and, valued at over USD 180 million, was considered the largest M&A deal in East Africa in 2024, and marks a transformative milestone for the region and the cement industry, representing the single largest foreign direct investment (FDI) originating from East Africa.

ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna
Bowmans
Kaplan & Stratton

In-house: Amsons Group, Standard Investment Bank

The financing of Dakhla Wind Farm demonstrates innovation in assembling a resilient contractual and financing structure for an asset that both powers essential water infrastructure and contributes renewable capacity to the grid. By combining generation with dedicated transmission and an offtake split across strategic and commercial uses, the transaction sets a benchmark for integrated renewable‑plus‑infrastructure projects in the region.

A&O Shearman
Clifford Chance