International Financial Law Review (IFLR) honored global law firm White & Case LLP four times in its 2021 IFLR Africa Awards announced on September 9. White & Case was named "Capital Markets Team of the Year," and "Loans Team of the Year," and two transactions on which White & Case advised were named "Deals of the Year" by IFLR:
Capital Markets Deal of the Year: Bank Group on Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement's €750 Million Bond Issuance
White & Case advised HSBC Bank plc, J.P. Morgan Securities plc and Natixis, as joint lead managers and bookrunners, on the 144A/Reg S offering by Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD) of €750 million 2.75% notes due 2033. The issuance is BOAD's first sustainable bond under its newly implemented Sustainable Bond Framework, which is aligned with the ICMA Green Bond Principles, Social Bond Principles and the Sustainability Bond Guidelines. The transaction was led by Partner of Counsel Cenzi Gargaro and Partner Max Turner, with support from Counsel Olga Fedosova and Associate Alice Chavaillard, all from White & Case’s Paris office.
Loans Deal of the Year: Trade and Development Bank Pandemic Relief Loan
White & Case represented the lenders (Citi, MUFG Securities EMEA, SMBC, and Standard Chartered) on a €334.4 million commercial bank term loan to Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), with a guarantee from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group. This is a pioneering new product by MIGA that provides commercial banks protection against the risk of Non-Honoring of Financial Obligations by a Regional Development Bank, the first major deployment of this product in the African market. The transaction was led by partners Martin Menski (Washington, DC), Jennifer Stolp (Johannesburg) and Carina Radford (London).
