Portugal's Miranda enters the Democratic Republic of Congo

The move will see the firm work alongside 11-lawyer MBM-CONSEIL, which is headquartered in the capital city of Kinshasa, and was the first formal legal partnership in the DRC. Working alongside MBM-CONSEIL the firm will focus on advising clients working across the country’s natural resources, logging and forestry, and transport sectors.

The firm already has considerable experience of working in tandem with local firms across Angola, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, the Republic of the Congo and São Tomé and Príncipe (3 September 2012).

In November 2012 Miranda become the first major Portuguese firm to open an office in London. The firm aims to take advantage of the growing interest from both UK and international investors in the African market (15 November 2012).

Commenting on the development, managing partner Rui Amendoeira said: “The investments we’ve made in the Portuguese-speaking markets over the past 25 years have clearly formed the base of our international growth strategy, not only because of the cultural proximity, but also because countries like Angola and Mozambique were always priority targets for us and where we are now clearly leading players.”

“The results already achieved in Gabon and the Republic of Congo have clearly exceeded our expectations and we’re now very optimistic about the outlook for DRC. We don’t under-estimate the complexity and scale of the market, which has a population of over 65 million, but firmly believe that by combining the capabilities of MBM-CONSEIL and Miranda, we can provide a unique offering for international companies interested in investing in the country,” he added.

Miranda is one of Portugal’s largest firms and the founder member of the Miranda Alliance, an association of law firms spanning four continents and 14 countries.