Herbert Smith Freehills has acted as global counsel to a group of 13 lenders providing $450m of reserved-based funding to Oando Energy Resources Inc. (“Oando”). The financing helped secure Oando’s $1.65 billion acquisition of various Nigerian onshore and offshore oil and gas assets from ConocoPhillips, the most notable of these assets being a 20% stake in the OML 60, 61, 62 & 63 assets. Herbert Smith Freehills was also appointed as escrow agent to conclude the acquisition between Oando and ConocoPhillips.
This is a landmark transaction in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, representing the largest single upstream acquisition completed in Nigeria by an indigenous company. Oando is now the largest indigenous producer of barrels to the Nigerian market with a capacity of nearly 100,000 barrels per day. The transaction was also notable for the funding and regulatory hurdles faced by Oando during the two years it took to complete the acquisition.
Head of Energy Finance John Balsdon led the transaction, assisted by Senior Associate Shaun Whittaker and Disputes Partner Dan Hudson.
John Balsdon comments: “This was the first deal in Nigeria that addressed the financial assistance issues in a leveraged financing. It also shows how the reserve-based lending structure can be developed – which is essential as we grow our practice into developing economies with indigenous producers.”
