Special focus: Africa
Seeking new
markets
Though their main focus has
traditionally been on oil-related
work in lusophone Africa,
Portuguese law firms are beginning
to strengthen their African
corporate restructuring and
litigation practices – opportunities
are also emerging in francophone
Africa, but these may be short-
lived
While Angola and Mozambique
have suffered downturns in
their economies due to falling
oil prices, alternative sources of
revenue have emerged for law
firms. Portuguese lawyers with
expertise in African markets
highlight, for example, a rise in
corporate restructuring work as
well as an increase in contentious
matters. Throw in the return of
some significant infrastructure
work – particularly in the
energy sector – and the picture
is not looking quite as bleak for
law firms operating in Africa
as some may have thought. In
addition, lawyers also cite new
opportunities in countries such
as Gabon, Congo, the DRC,
Cameroon and Ivory Coast as
reasons for further optimism.
However, some lawyers warn that
any success Portuguese law firms
experience in the Francophone/
Central Africa region will be
short-lived.
Opportunities for Portuguese
law firms have been bolstered
by the fact that oil-rich Angola
is now making significant
investments in Portugal, creating
an in-bound flow of capital
to the former colonial power
– a scenario that proved to be
particularly beneficial to Portugal
during a period in which it was
mired in, and then emerged from,
the euro-debt crisis.
Angola is the only African
country in which outbound
investment surpasses the
amount of inbound capital – the
country’s investment in Portugal
alone totalled €1.5 billion in
2014, according to figures from
the Bank of Portugal. And the
two countries’ relationship is
symbiotic, with affluent Angolans
travelling to Portugal for tourism
and shopping, while Portuguese
www.iberianlawyer.com
workers, keen to escape the
unemployment and austerity back
home, head for Angola to take
advantage of job opportunities
as the southern African nation
invests in infrastructure projects.
The level of Portuguese
investment in Angola remains
significant, while in addition, it is
Portugal’s fourth-largest export
market, with sales of around €3
billion per year.
According to Francisco Ferraz
de Carvalho, partner and head of
banking and projects at Linklaters
in Lisbon, and a member of the
firm’s Africa desk and global
infrastructure and energy group,
there have been significant
differences in the way individual
markets in Africa have behaved
during the past year. However,
he adds that there are still notable
opportunities for Portuguese law
firms in the Lusophone markets.
Taking Mozambique as an
example, he says that the political
and economic outlook is now
better than it was six months ago.
Avoiding duplication
Ferraz de Carvalho says that
among the challenges facing
law firms active in Angola and
Mozambique, for example, is
the need to have a detailed
understanding of the markets
their clients seek to invest in.
March / April 2017 • IBERIAN LAWYER • 51
>>