PLMJ and GLM honoured at The American Lawyer Global Legal Awards

The law firms PLMJ and GLM - Gabinete Legal Moçambique, the member of PLMJ International Legal Network for Mozambique, have been honoured in the second edition of the Global Legal Awards, organised by the prestigious US magazine, The American Lawyer. The two firms were honoured in the category “M&A deal of the year: Africa”, for the legal advice provided by the two PLMJ International Legal Network firms working in partnership to ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) in the acquisition of a 10% participating interest in from the Anadarko group in the “Area 1” offshore block in the Rovuma basin. The PLMJ/GLM team also assisted OVL and Oil India Ltd in the joint acquisition of a 10% participating interest held by the Videocon group in the same block. This deal, which was also recognised by the British publication Legal Week at the Africa Legal Awards, was considered one of the largest deals in the energy and natural resources area carried out in Eastern Africa and Mozambique in recent times, with a value of around USD 2.5 billion. The work was handled by PLMJ’s energy and natural resources and M&A teams, working hand-in-hand with the PLMJ Mozambique Desk and GLM on issues of Mozambican law and the local market, and was led on an international level by British law firm Simmons & Simmons. The operation lasted around five months and involved a large multidisciplinary team from the two firms coordinated at PLMJ by Ana Oliveira Rocha (co-head of PLMJ’s energy and natural resources team and an oil and gas specialist), and Marta Pedro and Miguel Spínola (both of the Mozambique Desk). The coordinators at GLM were Josina Correia (oil and gas) and Amina Abdala (public law and regulatory). This was a very significant and innovative operation in in the Mozambican energy and infrastructures sectors, in which GLM – Gabinete Legal Moçambique, headed by Tomás Timbane, was very closely involved. Through the Global Legal Awards, the magazine The American Lawyer recognises and honours best cross-border legal work of the year on major deals in the areas of finance, mergers and acquisitions, disputes and global citizenship. The deals that receive the awards in each of the categories are selected by The American Lawyer’s editorial team.