Aquereburu & Partners

Managing Partner: Coffi Alexis Aquereburu

Number of partners: 3

Number of lawyers: 7

Number of jurists: 6

Languages: English, French

Firm Overview:

Aquereburu & Partners is a multidisciplinary legal and tax law Firm, renowned both nationally and internationally. Located in the heart of the Lomé commercial area, it is endowed with a rich and solid foundation through the professional experience of its team. Aquereburu & Partners was created in 1987 from the Firm of Barrister Coffi Alexis Aquereburu . Registered at the Bar Association of Togo since 04th April 2007;Registered with Bar Association of Togo since April 4, 2007, AQUEREBURU & PARTNERS comprises seven (07) lawyers, Six (05) Jurists, one (01) legal assistant and translator and around twenty (20) collaborators.

Aquereburu & Partners avails its expertise to its clients both in the subregion and in Europe, benefiting from the support a network of correspondents and confirmed consultants when necessary. In order to better achieve the firm’s purpose of total satisfaction for its clients; the firm has been committed since 2005 to the ISO certification process. Renewing with its 2008 ISO 9001 version in April 2015.Aquereburu & Partners was also the winner of the TOGO and UEMOA Quality Excellence Awards in 2010. Its commitment to a quality approach earned it the prestigious ‘World Quality Commitment’ Gold Award in Paris, 2016 from the International Business Initiative Directions (BID). Mr. Alexis Coffi Aquereburu, former President of the Bar Association of Togo and the firm’s Managing Partner is an authorised representative to the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI).

International offices:

BENIN

Tel: +229 97 11 73 80

Email: [email protected]

Main Areas of Practice:

• Banking-Finance-Tax
• Social & Criminal law
• Commercial Law and Arbitration (OHADA Law and WAEMU law)
• Insurance
• Civil Law
• Public&Private Investment
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Intellectual and Industrial Property Law (Trademarks registration at OAPI)
• Litigation in all areas of law
• Maritime & Transport Law
• Legal & Tax audit
• Public Procurement

Recent works: Aquereburu & Partners operates throughout Togo and Benin, in all member states of the OHADA and CIMA space and before the courts in France.

Banking & Finance:

■ Tax review for a financial institutions in the process of privatisation

■ Legal opinion to an international financial institution on some facilities amounting respectively $150 million and $40 million

■ Legal assistance to a sub regional investment and development bank of multilateral financing in connection with the execution of a credit agreement between it and a company incorporated under the laws of India

■ Audit assignment of collateral taken by an international financial institution to secure its credits

Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions:

■ Legal opinion on the increase of the share capital by offsetting the claims

■ Advising a purchaser in connection with the transfer to TOGO of the oil assets of a major global group following a merger

■ Tax assistance to a parent multinational company in connection with a transfer of shares between two of its subsidiaries

■ Legal assistance to various companies for their creation and to various foreign companies for the installation of their branches or for the creation of their subsidiaries

■ Legal assistance to a company governed by Ghanaian law as part of a legal and fiscal arrangement for the establishment of a mobile telephony microinsurance network in West Africa

■ Draft of a technical assistance contract between a parent company and its subsidiary

■ Legal opinion on the sale of interests and participation of an oil company

■ Merging a group into a holding company

Insurance:

■ Legal assistance, representation and defence before the Togolese courts of various insurance companies in various contentious cases

■ Legal assistance to a consulting firm on behalf of its client on the regulation of insurance in Togo

■ Legal opinion on obtainment of licenses by insurance companies on different transfers of shares between them

Litigation:

■ Legal assistance, defence and representation of a financial company under Togolese law in a dispute with a company governed by American law before the French and Togolese commercial courts

■ Legal assistance and defence of a company group in litigation proceedings concerning its copyright on a trademark

■ Legal assistance and defence of natural and legal persons in litigation in various fields of law

Civil Law:

■ Legal assistance to natural and legal persons for drafting contracts relating to various areas of civil law

■ Assistance to an international institution for the review of the residential lease contract of its representative in Togo

■ Assistance and legal advice to a company governed by French law in the context of a case concerning the right to the image

Various Due Diligence:

■ Due diligence on the acquisition of shares and equity investments

■ Due diligence on credit agreements with several banks and financing institutions

■ Legal assistance to an agency of the US government in connection with due diligence in Togo

OHADA Law:

■ Training on the new Uniform Acts of the OHADA for staff of financial institutions

■ Legal assistance to various foreign companies in the application of the law OHADA

Community Law (WAEMU Law) :

■ Defence of a community bank before the Court of Justice of the WAEMU in the context of litigation and legal assistance to the Bank for the drafting of a credit agreement

■ Legal opinion on WAEMU texts ECOWAS Law

■ Various consultations on the Supplementary Act A/ SA.1/01/10 on the protection of personal data in the ECOWAS area.

Arbitration:

■ Legal Assistance to a Football Federation before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne in a dispute with the Confederation of African Football (CAF)

■ Assistance to a Football Federation in a mediation conducted by Mr BLATER, President of FIFA, in order to reconcile the views of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Football Federation in the wake of the dispute arising from the suspension of the latter of two editions of the CAN

Trainings:

■ Assistance in setting up a training program for Magistrates and Registrars in a member country of OHADA

■ Participation in a Training Seminar organised in Paris by the Panthéon University (Paris), the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Intellectual Property Research Institute

Others

Support for trademark registration at OAPI

■ Legal opinion on the share of a Right of Port Passage

■ Legal opinion on Togolese legislation on civil servants

■ Review of different types of employment contracts

■ Legal assistance to a Community Airline as part of the finalisation of an aircraft lease

■ Consultation on oil legislation in TOGO

■ Legal opinion of a public limited company on the application of the Public Procurement Code and delegations of public services

■ Legal consultation on the registration of ships in Togo

Key Clients:

■ International banks

■ TOGO and GHANA Insurance Companies

■ The TOGO and MOROCCO Airlines

■ The oil companies of TOGO, BRAZIL and MALAYSIA

■ The production and distribution of Electric Power companies from TOGO of BENIN and FRANCE

■ Companies selling food products from FRANCE

■ The handling companies of France and TOGO

■ Service providing companies

■ Various national and multinational trading companies

■ International organisations worldwide

■ US Government Agencies

■ Various chancelleries