Overview
LONDON (January 18, 2016) – McDermott represented Olam International Limited in the acquisition of Cayman Island registered Amber Foods Limited, which through its wholly owned subsidiary Quintessential Foods Nigeria Limited owns the former wheat milling and pasta manufacturing assets of the BUA Group in Nigeria. The BUA Group is a leading diversified foods and infrastructure conglomerate, and one of the top five wheat millers in the country.
The purchase price was US$275 million. The business includes two wheat mills and a pasta manufacturing facility in Lagos, a non-operating mill in Kano in the North of Nigeria, and a wheat mill and a pasta manufacturing plant under construction in Port Harcourt in the Southeast of Nigeria.
The acquisition will strengthen Olam’s position as the number two wheat miller by sales volume and make it a leading pasta manufacturer in Nigeria. Olam’s total wheat milling capacity in the country will increase from its current 2,380 to 6,140 tonnes per day once the facilities in Port Harcourt are completed in June 2016. McDermott represented Olam in its Nigerian acquisition of milling group Crown Flour Mills in 2011.
The McDermott team comprised London based corporate partners Nick Azis and Eleanor West, associate Rob Coward and London tax partner Matthew Herrington. Olawoyin & Olawoyin represented Olam for Nigeria law and Appleby for Cayman Islands law.
The Firm’s corporate practice in London advises on M&A, capital markets and structured finance, private equity and corporate restructuring transactions providing clients with cross border and multi-jurisdictional transaction management. The team is highly rated by market commentators and clients. It complements McDermott’s US, Chinese, German, French and Italian practices, providing a strong English law capability for the Firm’s work in the international financial markets.
About McDermott
McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a diversified business practice. Numbering more than 1,000 lawyers, we have offices in Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. Further extending our reach into Asia, we have a strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices in Shanghai.
