Eversheds project finance partner Howard Barrie first appeared in the Hot 100 in 2008, when his move to Paris at legacy Denton Wilde Sapte signalled a new era in the firm’s investment into Africa.
Between 2007 to 2010, when Barrie led the Africa committee, Denton Wilde Sapte had a strategy for winning and working on individual transactions and projects. This was in stark contrast to the approach of the firm’s US merger partner SNR, which Barrie categorises as “a bit different”.
The 2010 merger between the firms marked a time of change and new opportunities for Barrie.
When Eversheds came looking for someone to drive its practice in Anglophone Africa, the attraction of a developed practice with ties to South African alliance firm Routledge Modise sounded like an “exciting new challenge”.
The later collapse of relations between Eversheds and Routledge Modise in 2012 due to conflicts and its later incorporation under the Hogan Lovells umbrella proved to be a hiccup in the firm’s presence in the region, leading Eversheds to join forces with South African firm Mahons Attorneys and El Heni in Tunisia in 2013.
At the moment, Barrie claims that the firm has three different strands to its practice that allows it to benchmark its position in Africa: “A well-established public international disputes practice; work the firm does for international companies; and projects investment practice.”
The pressure from clients who wanted the firm to have a more formal structure around its relationships in the continent was the factor that pushed it to establish the Eversheds Africa Law Institute (EALI) 18 months ago, which has members in 36 African countries. The resulting structure is “affiliation-based relationships in the same way as Dentons and DLA Piper”, Barrie says.
The parallel with DLA is not wholly surprising given that its strategy was founded by former Denton Wilde Sapte Africa committee chair Charles Morrison.
It’s obviously different from other firms’ strategies – other firms have got informal links but gather their Africa relationship firms together in conferences.
“In order to benchmark Eversheds against its competitors, Africa is a must-have,” he says, explaining that the firm operates an “open, flexible approach”.
“The days of the local clients just asking for the local perspective are over. International law firms are focused on Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Tunisia. Obviously, we have our own branded offices in Tunisia and South Africa.”
It remains to be seen whether opening own offices or creating a network within Africa is the better strategy, Barrie says.
“The hard judgement call is how much work is there to be won from each country. There is definitely a sensitivity to reputational risk, a degree of nervousness.”
Changing lives
Barrie brought a number of existing relationships to Eversheds with him. For example, the Makeni deal, which Barrie had started when he was at Denton Wilde Sapte and spanned five years, involved Addax & Oryx Group signing €133m (£119.17m) of project finance loan facilities for the construction of an ethanol and renewable energy project.
He says the deal acted as a precedent for the firm to make clients much more aware about the team’s capability in the region. Over 2,000 people were employed through the project.
Another key client for Barrie is the East African Development Bank, the development finance institution for the East African community. Following growth in the region, Barrie is becoming more involved in infrastructure projects, including the acquisition finance of one of the last areas of independent forest in the Nairobi area to turn it into a eco-tourism hub. His ambition is to open the 100th file for the bank by the end of this year.
Other work includes advising on the expansion of hospitals in Kenya in 2015 and helping advise client Depfa Bank on a project involving the transfer of its assets to the German government.
But what about the future? “I like working on emerging markets projects because they present their own unique challenges and the social impact changes lives,” he says. “I remain a bit of a deal junkie. Management doesn’t really appeal to me. I’ve rolled my sleeves up and worked on finance projects.”
