Businesses and investors are increasingly looking to enter Africa and expand operations across the continent. Nigeria and South Africa are two of Africa's strongest economies with 2019 likely to unlock even greater opportunities in these countries.

Recognising this and responding to client needs, Webber Wentzel and leading Nigerian law firm, Aluko & Oyebode, recently signed a bilateral agreement. Webber Wentzel and Aluko & Oyebode have worked together for many years and have a long and established relationship.

The agreement will deepen and formalise the relationship between these leading firms and create a stronger platform to serve clients in Africa. The agreement also puts in place concrete measures to enable consistent and collaborative best practice sharing and more joint thought leadership as well as training and legal secondments. Christo Els, Senior Partner, Webber Wentzel: "We are seeing many international and South African companies and clients investing in Nigeria. We are also increasingly seeing matter complexity growing with advice requiring expertise from multiple African countries. This bilateral agreement between two leading advisers from the largest economies in Africa is another means of ensuring seamless, exceptional service to our clients. We have built a relationship with Aluko & Oyebode over many years and we look forward to deepening that relationship and exploring new and further ways of collaborating. As part of the celebrating this milestone, we will be jointly engaging with our clients in the coming months."

Kofo Dosekun, Managing Partner, Aluko & Oyebode: “This is a formalisation of long history of co-operation and shared values of our firms. Our firms seek to put our clients’ interests first as they find themselves in a global setting, requiring the best skills in any jurisdiction. This will create a one stop shop with no boundaries. We look forward to further strengthening this long-standing relationship with Webber Wentzel in the coming years. We believe this will be of significant benefit to both our clients and attorneys.”

About Webber Wentzel

With 150 years of experience and industry knowledge, Webber Wentzel is a leading full-service law firm on the African continent. We combine the collective knowledge and experience of our firm to provide clients with seamless, tailored and commercially-minded business solutions within record times. We value excellence and innovation and we work with our clients to help them achieve success in whatever they do. Our passion to help our clients achieve their goals shows in the quality of the delivery of our service. We aim to add value in everything we do and to be the trusted adviser to our clients. Our alliance with Linklaters and our deep relationships with outstanding law firms across Africa (including ALN) provide our clients with the best expertise wherever they do business.

Webber Wentzel's expertise has been recognised by many international ratings agencies:

• Achieved 56 overall individual rankings in Chambers Global - more than any other law firm in South Africa - and 17 of our lawyers achieved Band 1 positions (2018).
• Ranked by IFLR1000 in the Top Tier for the categories of Banking, Capital Markets, Power, Energy, Infrastructure, Mergers & Acquisitions, Mining, Oil & Gas and Project Finance (2019).
• Received the most Tier 1 rankings from Legal 500 - more than any other firm in South Africa (2018).

About Aluko & Oyebode

Established in 1993, Aluko & Oyebode has 17 partners and over 80 senior associates and associates with varied areas of expertise and combined experience that spans several years in all areas of Nigerian law and international law. Aluko & Oyebode also has a full complement of highly qualified business services staff and deploys state of the art technology to improve performance, effectiveness and efficiency in its operations and its delivery of client services.

Aluko & Oyebode's expertise has been recognised by many international ratings agencies:

• Winner of the Chambers Global Africa 2018 Nigeria Law Firm of the Year Award, 2018.
• Awarded Band 1 recognition by Chambers Global for: Banking & Finance, Corporate/ Commercial, Dispute Resolution, Energy & Natural Resources (2018).
• Awarded the highest number of Tier 1 rankings by Legal 500 - more than any law firm in Nigeria. Recognised for: Banking; Finance & Capital Markets Corporate; Commercial and M&A; Dispute Resolution; Energy & Natural Resources; Real Estate & Construction; Shipping & Transport (2018).
• Recognised as Top Tier by IFLR 1000 for: Banking, Capital Markets, Energy, Infrastructure, Oil and Gas, Mergers & Acquisitions, Project Finance (2019).