About
Fidelis Oguche is a mid-level associate at G. Elias, with significant experience in advising on some of the most complex and important deals ever transacted either in Nigeria or with Nigerian dimensions. He mainly works with the Corporate, Finance, and Energy teams. For instance, he has advised a syndicate of global banks on several financings of borrowing entities of Nigerian hydrocarbon producers (aggregate value of USD 10bn). He also provided local law advisory services to a Nigerian telecommunications entity on the English law restructuring of its Mauritian parent. This restructuring (circa USD 99m) was precedent-setting, in that it was the first ever restructuring in the history of English corporate law in which a class of lenders were disallowed by judicial process from voting on a distressed borrower’s restructuring plan.

His work usually touches on all stages of a complex transaction, ranging from “due diligence” and the negotiation of deal documents to securing regulatory approvals/registrations as a condition to closing – and everything in between. He also does the occasional specialized dispute. At the moment, he is representing an oil concessionaire at a trial touching on a highly-valued hydrocarbon acreage. He is also representing a “systemically-important” Nigerian bank on a class action filed against it by more than 1000 former employees (with the bank’s liability exposure exceeding USD 100m).

He has been praised by Legal 500 for being “proactive and hardworking.”

Contact
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.;
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fidelis-oguche-unekwu-ojo-93851a16b

Practice Groups
Finance
Energy
Corporate

Experience

Some of Fidelis's work include:

• Advised the following Nigerian banks on their circa US$500m eurobond offerings in the international capital markets: First Bank of Nigeria Limited, United Bank for Africa Plc and Ecobank Nigeria Limited.
• Advising on the divestment of a number of oil mining leases;
• Advising an international oil company on the proposed divestment of its Nigerian operations (approx. US$10bn);
• Advised Chapel Hill Denham and other issuing houses/bookrunners on the offer for the sale of MTN Nigeria’s shares;
• Advising a foreign FinTech entity on a strategic partnership with a leading Nigerian bank for the purpose of offering electronic payments solutions in the Nigerian market;
• Advising a syndicate of lenders led by Standard Chartered Bank on their US$1bn pre-export facility to a Bahamian entity sponsored by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation;
• Advised a leading telecommunications infrastructure provider on its proposed acquisition by a Pan-African private equity group;
• Advising a UK mobile payment service provider on regulatory/licensing and commercial aspects of its proposed acquisition of Nigeria’s largest agency banking operator;
• Advised AIICO Insurance Plc and other institutional vendors on the sale of their equity stake in AIICO Pensions Plc to FCMB Pensions Plc (approx. NGN11bn);
• Advising a systemically important Nigerian bank on its proposed US$110m financing of two strategic oil mining leases previously owned by a distressed concessionaire;
• Advised African Export-Import Bank on its EUR16bn equipment finance facility to Nigeria-based manufacturer, Tempo Paper and Pulp Packaging Limited.; and 
• Advised First Bank of Nigeria Limited on the divestment of its indirect shareholding in Airtel Africa Plc (approx. NGN30bn).

Professional Associations

• Nigerian Bar Association

Academic Record and Qualifications

• Barrister-at-Law (B.L) Nigerian Law School, First Class Honours. National prize in Corporate Law Practice.
• Bachelor of Laws (LL. B, First Class Honours), University of Jos. First Class Honours.