Corporate, M+A & Securities

We are poised to support our clients on relevant considerations around fair competition, price fixing, tendering, allocation of markets, market dominance and price regulation. In addition, we are versed with a deep understanding of the international and local merger control framework and have honed strategies which have facilitated our winning regulatory approval of mergers, acquisitions and takeovers for our clients. We, in collaboration with our Dispute Resolution team, are well equipped to effectively litigate criminal and civil antitrust matters on our clients’ behalf.

Employing foresight and utmost care, we are able to evaluate potential antitrust issues and regulatory compliance risks in mergers and acquisition deals and on that basis, advise our corporate clients, whether they are buying or selling, on how to avoid or mitigate them.

We have extensively advised both international and domestic companies on the establishment, registration and administration of all types of investment funds, as well as the establishment, restructuring and sale of fund management companies. We have also advised investors on the purchase of interests in investment funds and the divestment of their interests. Our clients are broker-dealers, investment fund managers, transfer agents, custodians, insurance companies, investment banking firms, insurance companies, alternative asset managers and investment advisers.

We provide legal counsel on all types of legal and compliance issues relating to hedge funds, private equity funds, commodities and derivatives, regulated funds, all types of public and private funds. Our lawyers are analytical and thorough in their approach to servicing clients, devising the most creative and efficient solutions to our broad range of clients.

We work with prominent individuals, institutions and corporate entities on big-ticket transactions, helping to document major deals in a way that ensures fairness to all parties, and particularly safeguards the legal and commercial interests of our clients.

Our lawyers draft, negotiate, review and interpret commercial contracts, helping our clients understand, express and protect their business interests. We as well provide legal advisory on the general and specific interpretations of certain provisions and clauses in commercial contracts, especially as it relates to enforceability. 

Knowing the vital role contracts play in business relations, our team of lawyers are highly skilled and multidisciplinary in their approach, as they advise clients across different sectors such as aviation and logistics, commodities, construction and real estate, entertainment, sports and media, financial institutions, governments and public sectors, insurance and reinsurance, fast moving consumer goods, infrastructure, shipping, manufacturing and industry, mining, oil and gas, power and renewables, private equity, Pharmaceutical and healthcare, and telecommunications. Our lawyers are practical in their approach to documentation and regularly combine an application of technical skills to craft type fit contracts. In addition, we work in close association with our Dispute Resolution team to provide legal representation to clients in commercial contracts disputes. 

We assist clients in ensuring compliance with corporate governance rules, data protection regulations, financial reporting requirements and other sector specific regulatory requirements. Our aim is to ensure that our clients avoid legal, financial, ethical and operations troubles.

We also help to identify non-compliant programs and corporate activities, and help to fix such and to mitigate the commercial and legal consequences of such non-compliance. 

Ours is a multijurisdictional practice that advises clients across different sectors on their business activities across different jurisdictions and regulatory regimes. We assist clients in ensuring compliance with corporate governance rules, data protection regulations, financial reporting requirements and other sector specific regulatory requirements. Our aim is to ensure that our clients avoid legal, financial, ethical and operations troubles. We provide comprehensive insight on what they are to expect in each jurisdiction and how to successfully navigate those regulatory requirements to reduce risks and avoid financial loss. We pride ourselves in being able to help clients eliminate all foreseeable legal and commercial impediments to their business activities. 

Our compliance practice is well integrated into all other practice groups, servicing our clients independently and as part of other services, as each case requires. At Bloomfield, we realize the importance of helping our clients stick to the right side of the law, and we work hard to ensure they are safe rather than sorry.
 

In providing tailormade advice to suit the peculiar transaction in view, our lawyers bring a combined expertise spanning decades to the fore.

In supporting your business, we want to help you sustain momentum hence we are committed to your growth. A client testimonial in the Legal 500 directory has the following to say: “They pay attention to details and their follow up service after every job is admirable.” 

From transport & logistics to real estate, manufacturing, infrastructure and projects, entertainment, telecommunication, pharmaceutical and healthcare, banking and finance, energy and natural resources, and FMCG sectors, we help our clients to develop efficient strategies for commercial viability and business success. Our practice covers the legal and operational aspects of our client’s businesses as we partner with them to achieve their corporate and commercial goals.

We are business savvy in our approach, practical and solution oriented in our methods. This gives our clients an assurance of quality as to our service and a guarantee of excellence in our delivery. With a corporate advisory practice that is well integrated into all our practice groups and service areas, our lawyers are able to provide preemptive as well as remedial legal solutions to all your business concerns. 

We counsel boards of private and public companies and senior executives on a wide spectrum of corporate governance issues such as the structure and composition of the board, structure and constitution of board committees, remuneration of directors and senior executives, regulatory requirements, shareholder governance, duties of chairman and director, risk identification and management, compliance issues, and best practices. We also act as company secretary to numerous companies across the entire spectrum of business enterprise.

We help these organizations build a solid governance framework which complies with all applicable national and international laws and regulatory regimes and works in the best interest of the company. We are able to carefully identify regulatory pitfalls and compliance risks and provide the needed legal guidance to help our clients avoid and manage them, as the case may be. Our lawyers regularly interface with the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and other regulatory bodies, and have a clear understanding of their workings and latest trends, on which basis we advise and support our clients.

Our Franchising practitioners are exceptionally entrepreneurial in their approach and are well prepared to help you pursue your business development and expansion drive unto successful outcomes. We service indigenous brands across the commodities, sports, entertainment and media, fast moving consumer goods, pharmaceutical and health care sectors and global brands seeking to take advantage of the Nigerian market by establishing franchises in Nigeria.

Our lawyers will team up with you to create effective and market friendly strategies that will not only successfully introduce your brand, products and services to new markets but ensure they gain strong footing and thrive in those markets. We are committed to the growth and development goals of our clients’ businesses and give our all when it comes to making those goals a reality. Indeed, our Franchising Practice is a firm of reference in matters relating to franchising, licensing and distribution, multi-channel structures, agency, hybrid structures and e-Commerce.

Our service includes but is not limited to reviewing franchising agreements, tax advisory, competition advisory, reviewing advertising and marketing agreements and other third party service agreements, legal due diligence, human resources and labour law advisory, corporate financing, and information protection. We also represent our clients in franchising disputes before the appropriate authorities.

At Bloomfield, our Funds & Investment Management practitioners possess the professional expertise and required wherewithal, garnered from years of advising different clients across the funds and investment management terrain.

Our team members have the ability to critically assess the potential risks in any investment venture and advice clients accordingly. We act for fund sponsors, private investors, fund managers, fund advisers, general partners, corporate investors, investment banks and other institutional investors in Nigeria and across the world. Our lawyers advice on the creation and management of different types of funds (leveraged buyout funds, debt funds, emerging markets funds, mutual funds, ETFs, venture capital funds, real estate funds, international funds, energy funds, infrastructure fund) in keeping with applicable domestic and global laws. We advise clients on all regulatory, tax, and commercial issues relating to the structuring and offering of funds. We also represent funds, fund advisers and fund managers in ensuing disputes.

Bloomfield’s insurance practice is able to help all types of businesses with domestic and international components decide the most suitable insurance and reinsurance strategies to adopt, and the most effective insurance cover to take on.

Our services include drafting and reviewing insurance policies, advising on the provisions of insurance laws and other applicable regulations, negotiation of insurance coverage, insurance claims advisory and all manner of insurance issues. We as well provide representation to both insurers and assureds in insurance and reinsurance disputes by way of arbitration, other applicable alternative dispute resolution methods, and litigation.

Our lawyers are highly knowledgeable in this field, and continue to build their expertise through the provision of well calculated and practical legal advice to insurers, brokers, reinsurers and insurance carriers on all insurance related matters. We are always out to deliver the most favourable and efficient solutions to our clients.

Bloomfield’s Joint Venture and Alliances team provides strategic legal guidance and workable advice to stakeholders of joint ventures and business alliances.

Our clients are investors, existing business organizations both large and small, investment entities and entrepreneurs. Our services include the structuring of mutually beneficial joint venture agreements across different sectors. We draft, negotiate and review joint venture contracts in accordance with domestic and international laws and international best practice to ensure that risks and obligations are apportioned adequately between the joint venture partners. We also provide representation for the enforcement of the contract provisions. 

We have advised on joint ventures and consortiums in the pharmaceutical sector, real estate and construction, shipping, oil and gas and power sector, amongst others. We are consistently able to bring to bear our experience on transactions in this sector to provide commercial and practical advice to clients. 

If your business requires strategic partnership or collaboration for expansion and development purposes, or you are an investor seeking the right businesses to profitably invest in or partner with, we have the right solutions. Our lawyers are able to assess your business needs and provide tailored and useful advice for ensuring your desired objectives. We factor in all legal and commercial issues involved such as the protection and exploitation of intellectual property, taxation, licensing, profit sharing, antitrust amongst others, in providing guidance to our clients. We also understand and are able to help you navigate the regulatory landscape in this area to ensure utmost compliance. Our risk and opportunities assessment skills are top notch, and our solutions are always cost effective and fit for purpose.
 

We support our clients who are comprised of large and small businesses, private and public companies and individuals through all mergers and acquisition processes, from bid preparation and submission until the transaction closes. We advise on the sale and purchase of businesses and business interests across all sectors and deliver value for our clients on takeovers, equity capital markets, private equity, disposals and corporate restructurings. In addition, we are well suited to provide legal advisory on recapitalization and consolidation of going concerns.

As a complement to our general deals and transactions offerings, we incorporate our associated practice areas such as banking and finance, capital markets, employment, intellectual property, corporate governance, antitrust and competition, and tax teams to offer our clients a compete business advisory service as it relates to Mergers & Acquisitions transactions.  Our Mergers & Acquisitions practitioners have advised on some of the most complex and largest Mergers & Acquisitions transactions in Nigeria and globally and have garnered market recognition for helping our clients successfully navigate the legal and commercial intricacies of Mergers & Acquisitions transactions in cross jurisdictions. In addition to structuring the deal, our lawyers draft and negotiate sale and acquisition agreements. We also handle regulatory compliance as it relates to the filing of relevant notifications and returns to the Securities and Exchange Commission; and, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. 

We have recently acted for clients in various sectors including the FMCG, shipping, natural resources (oil, gas and power), aviation, private equity, technology, real estate and banking sectors.  

We have a deep understanding of the current trends and market developments both domestically and internationally. We bring this knowledge to bear as we provide comprehensive guidance and support to our clients on all regulatory, financial, and tax issues affecting their activities in this area.

We advise private investors, funds, different types of fund managers, institutional investors, foundations, broker-dealers, custodians and financial institutions on all types of investment issues and throughout each stage of an investment’s life cycle. With the end goal of helping them realize maximal returns on investment in mind, we are able to team up with our clients on the creation and management of different fund types, and help to structure different investment vehicles, investment management companies, and investment agreements.

We act for startups seeking to raise adequate and secure funding for their enterprises, helping them to identify and explore veritable funding opportunities. We also help private equity firms seek out and invest in the right businesses, with excellent risk assessment and management advisory, to ensure the protection of their capital and guarantee of returns. Whatever your role in this field, we are able to help you find the most suitable opportunities and solutions and enhance your interests.