Akinfolabi Rokosu is admitted as a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria with over 18 years of post-call experience. He has bias for both contentious and non-contentious works bordering on corporate control via takeovers, oil and gas, commercial conflict of laws, commercial litigation and arbitration, financial advisory/ investment banking, asset management, financial (capital, money and derivative) markets, commercial and private trusteeship, private equity, projects and infrastructure, agriculture value chain and financing.

Folabi’s wealth of experience included taking up either an external counsel or an in-house role at Olaniwun Ajayi LP, the largest full-service law firm in West Africa; Olajide Oyewole LLP, one of the leading corporate commercial law firms and a DLA Piper Africa partner law firm in Nigeria; as well as Asset & Resource Management Holding Company Limited (ARM), the largest non-banking financial institution in the country. Also, he has been involved in many large-ticket commercial transactions and litigation matters with respect to new and complex areas of law. He has represented both local and international clients at various courts of first instance, tribunals and appellate courts across the country.

Folabi further acted for clients before a number of subcommittees of the National Assembly (both Senate and House of Representatives). He also regularly engages supervisory and regulatory agencies on behalf of the clients in various sectors of the Nigerian economy. These clients include regulators, banking and non-banking financial institutions, oil and gas firms, asset/portfolio/fund managers, stockbroking firm, financial advisory firm, shipbuilding firm, private equity fund managers, pension managers firm, agriculture value chain firm etc. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association.

• University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom- LL.M International Commercial Law
• University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria-LL. B
• Council of Legal Education -B. L
• Nigeria Capital Market Institute Abuja -Certificate of Participation for Pre-Registration Training -Awaiting SEC’s interview for sponsored individual.

• Nigeria Bar Association

• Banking and Finance Practice
• Corporate & Commercial Practice
• Commercial Litigation & Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Energy and Infrastructure

COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS EXPERIENCE

• Advised an Australian commercial bank and other foreign lenders on the accession of an AUD 475 million Multicurrency Bank Guarantee and Revolving Facilities Agreement by a Nigerian incorporated entity as an additional guarantor to an Australian public listed company.
• Acted for an American investment bank on lending of USD 175 Million to a Nigerian property company.
• Advised an international bank on a US$22 Million Dassault Falcon 2000LX Aircraft refinancing facility granted to a foreign incorporated borrower who then leased the aircraft to a Nigerian company.
• Led a team to carry out a collateral and credit review of the customers’ files for Mainstreet Bank, a Nigerian commercial bank to determine the bank’s level of compliance with its credit risk policy, know your customers’ requirements and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s prudential guidelines.
• Provided advisory service to a United Kingdom Export Finance Institution on the legal issue of capacity or status of a State’s Ministry to enter into certain transactions for and on behalf of a State in South-South Nigeria and how the State and/or the country may be liable for this contract.
• Advised lenders on provision of asset acquisition financing and working capital financing to the Omotosho Electric Energy Company Limited and Omotosho Power Plc.
• Advised the apex bank CBN and a foreign investment bank on the investigatory powers of the National Assembly and the summons of attendance arising from same.
• Furnished legal opinions to a number of Nigerian banks on commercial issues such as taking of security in credit transactions, compliance with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s rules on Know Your Customer, Anti-Money Laundering, and e-banking.
• Acted for the Nigerian Bottling Company Plc. in restructuring its business operations in Nigeria by converting the company from a public limited liability listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange to a private liability company fully owned by its foreign parent company.
• Part of a team who advised Oando Plc to divest and restructure certain of its downstream entities by selling portion of its equity in Oando Marketing and three other entities to Copper Energy BV (Vitol S.A and Helios Investor Genpar III L.P).
• Part of a team who acted for Oando Plc on sale of its 100% equity holding in East Horizon Gas Company to Seven Energy International Ltd for about US$250 million.
• Acted for a foreign client, United Green on investment in a solar project in Nigeria through the acquisition of 100% equity of a 100MW consented solar power plant, Enugu State, Nigeria.
• Acted for First Rand Group in conducting legal due diligence on Diamond Bank Plc with respect to investing through acquisition of equity stake in Diamond Bank Plc.
• Advised Trojan Estate Ltd, the owner and operator of Royal Garden Estate, Ajah, Lekki Nigeria on the generation and distribution of electricity in its estate using the options of captive power plant and/or embedded independent electricity distribution network.
• Advised a major lottery business operator in Nigeria on restructuring its business operations and reform suggestions it may make to the National Assembly on the proposed amendment to the National Lottery Act, 2005.
• Advised a foreign Hotel Group on the issue of compliance with the provisions of the NOTAP Act by reviewing and commenting on the transaction structure and documents such as the Hotel Management Agreement, Hotel License Agreement, Hotel Advisory and Centralized Services Agreement, Technical Service Agreement, and Residence License Agreement.
• Acted for a Russian hydroelectric power generating company with respect to provision of technical services to the Kanji power concession. The task involved review of the Power Concession Agreement, the Technical Services Agreement and rendering legal opinion on relevant legal issues.
• A member of the legal team that provided legal advisory support to an international ship manufacturing firm, SHIK and its Nigerian incorporated subsidiary, SHIN on an over US$ 3 Billion Contract for the Engineering, Procurement Construction, and Commissioning of a green field Floating Platform Storage and Offloading Unit (“FPSO”) of the Egina Oilfield OML 130. The foreign direct investment involved the establishment of a Fabrication and Integration Dockyard Facilities and Quay Wall Facility under a joint venture arrangement with LADOL Integrated Logistics Enterprise at the Ladol Free Trade Zone, Lagos, Nigeria.
• Advised on transactions involving equity and debt capital raise, guarantees for long term infrastructure financing transactions such as guarantees, trust deeds, security deeds, escrow agreements, and safe agreement for investment in US incorporated entities, Programme Trust Deed, Series Trust Deed, Security Trust Deed, Notes Subscription Agreement, and Account Agreement for various private placement bond or public bonds like N200 Billion, N100 Billion FCMB Close ended FCMB-TLG Nigeria Credit Fund, Structuredsecure Commodities SPV Ltd N250 Billion.

COMMERCIAL LITIGATION AND ARBITRATION EXPERIENCE

• • Responsible for the litigation portfolio of a non-banking financial group involving over 25 matters including real estate, infrastructure, and money laundering matters.
  • Represented a leading courier company in Nigeria, DHL in a non-contentious matter to recover the sum of N368 million from the Nigerian electoral body being money paid as custom duty and value added tax for clearing 30,000 units of direct data capture machines used for the 2011 general election.
  • Acted for a topmost Nigerian commercial bank, FBN Nigeria, its English subsidiary, FBN (UK) Ltd and an international downstream oil trader, Arcadia Energy (Suisse) in two sister suits premised on mismanagement of a Nigerian oil and gas company and reneging on the promise to discount its indebtedness of N19 Billion.
  • Appeared for an international downstream oil trading company, Arcadia Petroleum Ltd to register as judgement of the Nigerian court two English court foreign judgments worth US$15 million. Acted for the same client to wind up the judgment debtor.
  • Acted for Oando Plc to obtain the court orders that sanctioned the restructure and transferring of certain assets, properties to Oando Marketing.
  • Appeared for BB Energy Trading Ltd and Samon Petroleum Ltd against Access Bank Plc at the Bankers Committee’s Sub Committee on Ethics and Professionalism in a refund claim for over US$240,815.21, being excess default interest charges, pre-negotiation interest, and foreign exchange rate charges on their accounts.
  • Headed the team of over twenty lawyers that represented Central Bank of Nigeria, the apex bank and other statutory regulators in over sixty civil matters arising from the 2008 and 2009 intervention in the Nigerian banking sector.
  • Acted for the statutory asset management corporation, AMCON to defend a claim on agency fees arising from the disposition of certain real properties in the settlement of eligible banking assets.
  • Part of the team that successfully defended a Nigerian investment bank on the dispute that arose from a private placement transaction.
  • A member of the team that represented a Nigerian commercial bank in an international arbitration arising from dispute on certain rights attaching to preference shares issued by the bank to some foreign investors.
  • Defended a Nigerian manufacturing company against a group of investors who allegedly purchased shares in the company on the basis of the company’s falsified financial reports issued by its directors and external auditors.
  • Represented a Nigerian commercial bank on the dispute arising from interpretation of an advance payment guarantee connected to a reclamation contract in the Niger Delta.
  • Acted for a Nigerian commercial bank in respect of a fundamental right issue connected to the failure of a capital market operator to fulfil its underwriting obligation under a hybrid public offer.