ANIEKAN UKPANAH

Aniekan Ukpanah is the firm's Managing Partner and he heads Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie's banking and finance teams, its project finance, infrastructure and PPP, real estate and intellectual property teams. He advises on the structuring and financing of construction, energy project, hotel, shopping mall, road and railway transactions, the capital and money markets and syndicated loans.

He led the UUBO team that advised the preferred bidder for a state sponsored transportation concession, and advised potential lenders in another transportation infrastructure project. He has also acted as local legal adviser in relation to high profile projects including the Euromoney Deal of the Year in 2003 and 2006 respectively which involved advising various lending syndicates on financing operators in the telecommunications, manufacturing, steel fabrication and power sectors. He also advises investors in the gas sector including one of the largest extractors of natural gas in the world in relation to various Nigerian oil and gas projects.

Aniekan is ranked as a leading lawyer in the corporate/M&A sections of Chambers Global Directory and the International Financial Law Review (Expert Guides) and the Legal 500, and is commended in Who’s Who Legal 2009.

He provides client training and presents papers on security for bank lending, secured credit transactions and legal issues associated with PPPs. Slightly outside of his banking and finance focus, Mr. Ukpanah acted as team leader in a World Bank/USAID-funded project to devise a ‘road map’ to guide foreign investors who wish to invest in Nigeria. He is a member of the governing council of Obong University, the first licensed private university in Akwa Ibom State. He also chairs and serves on the boards of various private limited liability companies.