Fred Onuobia is the managing partner of G Elias & Co, one of Nigeria's leading business law firms. He is a member of several professional organisations and is recognised in leading international directories of lawyers, such as The Legal 500, IFLR and Chambers Global. He has over 25 years’ experience in carrying out banking and finance, capital markets, commercial and project finance work for both private and public-sector clients in various industry sectors.
Fred has advised on numerous banking and finance transactions. He advised the African Export-Import Bank on its US$750 million financing to the Bank of Industry (largest financing ever of a foreign development financial institution to a Nigerian development financial institution) and its US$650 million financing to the Nigerian private sponsor of the largest ever new-build refinery respectively. In the oil and gas sector, he advised the lenders on the US$1.5 billion pre-export forward sale transaction to finance the NNPC, Shell Petroleum and Total oilfield developments for the Nigerian national gas-to-power programme. In the structured finance sector, he has advised several leading international banks on swaps, repos and securities lending transactions with Nigerian counterparties.
Other notable transactions of his include advising a syndicate of lenders on the project financing and restructuring of the construction and rehabilitation of Lekki-Epe Toll Road (Nigeria's pioneering toll road concession), advising the lenders on the Lagos airport terminal (MMA2) development concession (Nigeria's pioneering private airport terminal), advising on the non-recourse financing for the development of the Calabar International Airport to Tinapa monorail facilities, and advising MTN Nigeria Limited on the over US$1.1 billion sale of its tower assets to IHS.
WWL says: Fred Onuobia is a prominent figure in the Nigerian banking space who commands over 25 years of experience advising on a broad spectrum of banking, capital markets and structured finance matters.
This biography is an extract from Who's Who Legal: Banking which can be purchased from our Shop.